Fallen Stars
by Hope Strong
Summary: Sequel to 'Mirror Moves'. Twelve tasks, one for each Zodiac sign, is what Jen and Alex have to go through to recover their children from an ancient brotherhood. hiatus.
1. Oh, Baby!

Disclaimer: Power Rangers Time Force, characters names, distinctive likenesses, logos and all related indicia, are copyright trademarks of Buena Vista Entertainment, used here without permission and for non- profitable use. A.N: It doesn't seem fair that I take all the credit for the idea of this fic. I took the basic idea from a book entitled: "The Last Cathon" or something like that (the original title is in Spanish: "El Ultimo Catón") by: Matilde Asensí. Also I have decided to name my chapters in this fic. It will prove itself useful later. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------  
  
Fallen Stars By Shirley Chong  
  
Chapter 1: Oh, Baby!  
  
Jen opened her eyes slowly, her entire body demanding more sleep. She felt weak and tired, but she wanted to wake up, to know how it had gone. She felt a hand caressing her forehead and the sensation was soon accompanied by a soft, almost whispered voice.  
  
"Hey, up so soon? I thought you liked to sleep." She smiled at the comment.  
  
"How are they? Did everything go okay?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, honey, everything is fine," he said, kissing her cheek. "With you and with them."  
  
"Are they healthy?" she pushed further.  
  
"Ten fingers and ten toes each," he said with a chuckle.  
  
"When do we get to meet them?"  
  
"In about an hour," he said, now caressing her eyebrows, trying to force her to keep her eyes shut. "Get some more sleep, I promise you are not going to miss it."  
  
She chuckled. "Okay," she agreed drowsily and fell asleep again for a couple of hours. Giving birth was definitely a tiring experience.  
  
***********************  
  
"Aren't they the cutest things you've ever seen?" Jen asked as she showed her friends one of her newborn baby boys. Alex was holding the other with a smile on his face.  
  
"Yes, they are," Katie said excitedly, caressing the tummy of the boy Jen was holding. "They are just gorgeous!"  
  
"Oh, say thank you, Adam," Jen told her baby. He was snoozing in her arms, wearing a diaper that was much too big for his little body. "He's such a gorgeous boy," she said, kissing him on the forehead. "Can you bring Andrew closer, Alex?" she asked. He obliged and she caressed her other baby's head.  
  
"Do you think you can handle them both?" Lucas asked.  
  
"There are two of us, it can't be too hard," Alex answered, not taking his eyes away from his little miracles.  
  
"Well, we better leave, this family needs some time by themselves," Katie said, getting up from her chair. They said their goodbyes, promised to come back the next day and left the new family alone.  
  
Alex sat on the bed next to Jen. They both just sat there staring at their babies silently for a few minutes. Those children were the result of a lot of changes in their lives. They had quit Time Force, moved to the suburbs, gotten civilian jobs, (Alex had finally agreed to help his father at Bio- Lab, and Jen was helping her father with their farm business), and Jen had undergone treatment and bed-rest during the pregnancy, which had driven her crazy.  
  
However, seeing the result of a year of adaptation to a new life was definitely worth it. Their children had been born healthy and on time, and now they were a family. Discovering they were expecting twins had been a real joy for the couple and finally having them in their arms felt like heaven.  
  
They finally took their eyes off their children and looked at each other, their faces showing bright smiles. "We really got them right, didn't we?" he asked.  
  
"Just like everything we do together," she answered. They both laughed softly and then kissed tenderly.  
  
"It's going to be great having them home, won't it?" Alex asked, his eyes back on his children.  
  
"I can hardly wait," Jen said, caressing Adam's little bald head. The future looked bright and peaceful for them now. But, then again, it always did.  
  
********************************  
  
A week after the babies had been born the Drakes were all home, preparing for a night of sleep. Alex laid Adam in the crib, and covered him with a sky-blue blanket. Jen looked towards the window, a worried expression on her face.  
  
"Hey, you okay?" Alex asked.  
  
She looked at him and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. I just have a feeling--a weird feeling, that the children are not safe," she admitted.  
  
"Ridiculous," he said, kissing her forehead. "You are just a bit paranoid, remember we quit Time Force to protect these two angels," he reminded her, pointing at the baby in her arms.  
  
"Right," Jen said, her face lighting up. She laid Andrew in his crib and covered him with a green blanket.  
  
They stood there watching their children sleep for a few minutes. "I feel proud," Alex said. "Of us, of them, I really feel prouder than ever."  
  
"A child is the biggest blessing one can have. Two children is--wow!" Jen said, swallowing hard. "I am so emotional and excited," she admitted. Alex hugged her, with trembling arms.  
  
"Me too," he said. "And a bit scared. But we'll work this out."  
  
"Of course we will," Jen said, releasing him and turning on the baby watch.  
  
Even if the babies were sleeping in the same room as them, they used a baby watch to monitor different vital signs and other things on their babies. Alex got in the bed, and covered himself with the thick blankets. He looked at the window and saw the snow fall slowly.  
  
Jen got in the bed too, and he turned to her. She was looking at the snow as well. "It's so beautiful," she admired.  
  
He nodded. "And romantic."  
  
She looked at him and the snuggled together, closing their eyes. It had been a while since Jen had last used her psychic powers for anything major, and she tended to disregard them now, even if she did try to keep using them every now and then, so she wouldn't lose them. However, that night, tired as she was, she closed her eyes and curled up with her husband, blaming the sweet scent she was smelling on his soap.  
  
Meanwhile, Alex also drifted into a quick and deep sleep that trapped him suddenly. The last thought that crossed his mind that night was how good and sweet Jen's new shampoo smelled.  
  
*********************************  
  
Jen opened her eyes slowly, her head aching madly. She ran her hands across her eyes, trying to wipe the sleep from her head. As her senses returned to her, she felt her chest soaked with her milk. Her mind awoke immediately at this. She had fallen so deeply asleep she hadn't fed the babies! She hadn't even heard them cry!  
  
As she got out of bed, she noticed Alex was still there, which made her wonder about the time, for he was still deeply asleep. However, the sun was up. What time was it? She looked at the clock: 8:00 a.m. Why was Alex still home?  
  
Suddenly her attention returned to her chest, and in consequence, to her children. She moved fast towards the crib and stopped suddenly at the sight that met her eyes.  
  
"No. . ." she begged in a half whisper. "No. . ." she begged again. It had to be false; it had to be a joke! She had quit Time Force to keep that from happening. "NO!" she yelled in desperation, waking Alex with a start. "NO! NO! NO!" she yelled angrily, kneeling in front of the crib the twins were sharing.  
  
Alex got out of the bed, his wife's yells and obvious distress removing from him all drowsiness and headache. "Jen, what--?" he began but she didn't need to answer, when he reached her side. He knelt by her side and offered her physical support, but not emotional, for he was as broken and disbelieving as she was. They hugged, Jen crying her eyes out, Alex in shock that had turned into pain beyond tears.  
  
In front of them, the crib lay empty, except for an envelope, addressed to them both.  
  
To be continued. 


	2. Letters

AN: I suck at rhymes.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Chapter 2: Letters.  
  
The brotherhood of Heracles,  
  
Protectors of the Zodiac,  
  
Has taken your children to their Paradise on Earth  
  
For they have been chosen to become part of our ancient brotherhood.  
  
If you pass our tasks and prove yourselves worthy of raising them,  
  
You will be given your children back.  
  
If not, you will lose your children forever  
  
You'll be contacted again.  
  
Alex and Jen read the note over and over, trying to find a clue. However, they could only wait until they were contacted again.  
  
The door bell rang and Alex left Jen's side to get it. Captain Logan, high Commandant Drake (Alex's father), Katie, Lucas and Trip entered the house when he stepped to the side of the open door. Katie ran to Jen, and hugged her, trying to offer her comfort and support. Jen began sobbing on her friends shoulder again.  
  
"Jen," Katie whispered, caressing her hair.  
  
"My babies," she sobbed. "They were supposed to be safe now!" she complained.  
  
"What happened?" Logan asked.  
  
"We woke up late, which we never do, and the babies were gone." Alex gave him the note and the envelope. "This was on the crib," he said.  
  
Logan looked silently at the note and read it. His face seemed somber. "Do you remember anything else? Anything out of the ordinary?"  
  
"A sweet smell," Jen said softly. "A smell like flowers, very sweet, last night before we fell asleep."  
  
"A drug probably," Drake said. "To put you both to sleep deeply while they took the children."  
  
"That's what we thought. Last night I was drowsy suddenly, and I blamed it on my tiredness, and I blamed the smell on Alex's soap," Jen explained.  
  
"And I blamed it on her shampoo, we really didn't think there was nothing to worry about," Alex added.  
  
"This may sound a bit cold and cruel," Logan began, looking at the young parents. "But the best thing you can do is prepare funeral services for your twins and have another child," he said bluntly.  
  
Katie had to hold Jen back, as she jumped towards the man with an angry yell. "HAVE ANOTHER CHILD?!" she yelled in disbelief. "Do you know how hard it was for us to have these babies? Do you know how much we love them?" she asked; anger leaking out of her through her voice, her eyes and her clenched fists.  
  
"Do you know how many pairs of dead bodies we have found of parents that received this letter after their children were kidnapped?" Logan asked back.  
  
"But why our children?" Alex asked suddenly, his voice surprisingly broken. "Why us? There's nothing special about us anymore!" He ran his hands through his hair, which was considerably longer, but well cared for.  
  
Jen broke free from Katie and sat next to her husband. She held his hand and they pressed their foreheads together, as if combining their minds, trying to find a reason, a light in this mess.  
  
"It was never clear why they took any of the children," Logan said. "But the children were never seen again."  
  
Drake sat next to his son and put a hand on his shoulder affectionately. Alex and his father had grown closer during the trial of Alex's mother. It had been a hard time, but Alex and Jen had quickly blown the dark clouds away through their babies. And now, this.  
  
"Alex, it will be all right," Drake said.  
  
"How, Dad?!" Alex asked, exasperated. "How will it be all right? If we let go and have another child? We won't do that!"  
  
"I never said that," Drake said. "I meant to say, I have a great trust in you two, and if there is anyone that can get through this, it's you two."  
  
"What are you getting at?" Alex asked.  
  
"I'm suggesting you and Jen could study this case for a while, and then try to solve it, try to figure out where your children are," Drake said slowly.  
  
"We can't," Jen said. "Time Force files are classified to civilians."  
  
"Precisely," Alex said, looking into his father's eyes. "He wants us back in the Force," he said.  
  
"What?" Jen asked, surprised. "No way, we would never go back to the Force!"  
  
"You don't understand," Drake began.  
  
"The Force hasn't been the same since you guys quit!" Katie interrupted him.  
  
"It's been a mess, failure after failure, the Power Rangers aren't half as good without you," Drake said. Then he threw a side glance to the other Rangers and said: "No offense meant."  
  
"None taken, it's true," Lucas said, looking at the young couple. Jen shook her head and got to her feet.  
  
"No," she said. "I'm not letting you use this to get us back," she yelled. "I'm going to take a shower, I'm still covered in my own milk, and I'm sticky." She looked at Alex, her eyes reddened and her face desperate. "Besides, it's too early for me to deal with this, I need to rest, I can't deal with this now," she said and left towards the bedroom.  
  
Alex got to his feet and looked at the officers. "You can look around as much as you want, search for clues or anything you want." He looked at his father, his face a mask of stone. "But don't you ever dare to bring this up again." He followed Jen towards the bedroom.  
  
********************************  
  
Jen was standing in the middle of the room, her eyes closed, when Alex walked in. She opened her eyes, and turned to him as she ran her hand through her hair. "Did you find any thoughts that might give us clues?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing interesting. Lots of thoughts about us and other stupid unimportant things. They know how to lock what's truly important out of their minds," she answered, sounding hopeless.  
  
He approached her and hugged her tightly, needing the feeling of her body against his. "It'll be okay," he said, not truly believing it. "We'll get them back."  
  
"Are you willing to go through those tasks they talk about in the note?" she asked.  
  
"All the way," he answered. "Let's go and take that shower now, we'll think better when we are clean and fed," he predicted. She nodded and they both entered the bathroom.  
  
He opened the shower, letting the water warm a bit, while they undressed. Jen winced when she released her breasts from her bra. They were big and looked full, Alex knew it hurt her to see and feel them like that. He took off his own clothes and stepped in the shower stall, closely followed by his wife, who seemed completely out of it. Her gaze was lost and her face was saddened. He took her in his arms and they held each other silently under the warm water, both lost in their thoughts and their misery.  
  
'Everything.' Alex thought. 'We gave up everything, except each other, for those children, and still some people we don't know have the nerve to doubt we are worthy of raising them. As if our love for them wasn't enough to lead us to the right path.'  
  
'I wonder if they are feeding them, and changing them, you know?' Jen answered his thoughts with her own. They were sharing their thoughts as they were now used to. 'I wonder if they talk to them, or play them music. I wonder if they are massaging them and caressing them. Why would this brotherhood, whoever they are, think they are better fit to take care of Adam and Andrew than us?'  
  
'I don't know', he thought and sighed.  
  
They broke apart and began cleaning themselves. Out on their bedroom, a furtive and silent hand left them another message.  
  
*************************************  
  
Katie and Trip cooked some breakfast for the young parents while they were taking their shower. Lucas, Mr. Drake and Logan were sitting on the kitchen table, savoring some coffee.  
  
"I wonder who's behind this," Trip said as he prepared the eggs.  
  
"Me too, it's really unfair for them," Katie said. "They are cut out to be good parents."  
  
Even in their conversation they were all startled by the sound of the bedroom door slamming open. "GUYS!!" they heard Jen call as she ran towards the kitchen.  
  
"What is it?" they asked immediately.  
  
"Another letter," she said excitedly. "We have to be somewhere at some point," she said, showing them the letter.  
  
It said:  
  
Where goodbyes are said  
  
Where the loves are awaited  
  
It's where you will say goodbye  
  
And wait.  
  
In that place that's been soaked  
  
In the waters of the Lethe.  
  
The eternal kiss  
  
The eternal dance  
  
The immense beauty and  
  
The imposing mystery  
  
Will be your hosts  
  
During your wait for the Son of Nyx  
  
Be there when the child of Hyperion and Theia  
  
Returns to the Islands of the Blessed  
  
Bring with you what you feel you'll need  
  
We will respect your wishes  
  
But be warned, the Styx will keep you  
  
From breaking the pact you've sealed with an oath  
  
And like Cerberus once did to the living  
  
We will eliminate the ones that don't belong.  
  
"Not very good with rhymes, are they?" Logan commented.  
  
"It doesn't matter," Alex said. "This is what we were waiting for, the directions to start our journey to get our children back."  
  
"It would be a lot more useful if it was written in English though," Katie said bitterly.  
  
"I understand this quite a bit," Alex said simply. "I just need to check some things on the computer," he said and left the room.  
  
Jen and the others stayed in the kitchen with the note, trying to decipher what it said. "I also understand a bit," Trip said. "You can take with you whatever you want, and you have to go alone, or your companions will be killed."  
  
"I understand this," Jen said. "Alex and I have been reading lots of Greek mythology lately, we found it incredibly interesting, and this isn't very encouraging," she said sadly.  
  
Alex returned to the room. "Okay, I got it now," he said. "Do you, Jen?"  
  
"Well, I think we have to be at this place, wherever it is, by dusk," she said. "Be there when the child of Hyperion and Theia returns to the Islands of the Blessed," she read again. "The children of Hyperion and Theia are Eos and Helios, Eos is the goddess of dawn, and she announced the arrival of her brother, Helios."  
  
"How do you know they are not referring to dawn?" Katie interrupted.  
  
"The next verse," Jen said simply. "Helios was the sun, and he traveled around the world in his golden chariot, every night, at dusk, when Nyx took over, he returned to the Islands of the Blessed until the next day."  
  
"So you have to be in this place at dusk, but where?"  
  
"The old harbor," Alex said matter-of-factly.  
  
"How do you know that?" Jen asked, amazed.  
  
"Where goodbyes are said; where the loves are awaited; it's where you will say goodbye and wait. In that place that's been soaked in the waters of the Lethe. The eternal kiss, the eternal dance, the immense beauty and the imposing mystery will be your hosts during your wait for the Son of Nyx," Alex read.  
  
"Very poetic way to describe a harbor, the whole goodbye and awaited loves thing. The eternal kiss and dance is a metaphor for the waves and the sand, and the beauty and mystery are references to the sea, all of them truly unnecessary, if you ask me. Often romantic poems include women waiting by the sea for their loves until they turn into statues or stuff like the waves kissing the sand. That's where we have to be, in a harbor. Which harbor? The one that's been soaked in the waters of the Lethe. The Lethe is the river of forgetfulness, and it goes through the underworld, so it has to be a harbor that's often forgotten, an old one that nobody uses anymore," Alex explained.  
  
"The next line is the one I don't like," he warned.  
  
"Waiting for the son of Nyx," Jen said. "I don't like it either."  
  
"Why not?" Logan asked.  
  
"Because the children of Nyx are Hypnos, Thanatos, and Moros, who are 'sleep', 'death' and 'doom' respectively," Alex answered. "That's what I was checking."  
  
"So," Katie began. "Will you be waiting for sleep, death or doom?"  
  
"Sleep," Jen said. "They mention we have to await the son of Nyx in a place soaked by the Lethe. The Lethe's sound was the only sound heard in the deep valley where Hypnos lived."  
  
"Thanatos lived with him," Alex reminded her.  
  
"But we were supposedly chosen to go through some tasks, they can't kill us so early," Jen argued. "I think we'll be put to sleep and taken to wherever we have to go to pass these tasks."  
  
"I think you're right," he agreed after a minute of consideration. "We better start packing, we don't have much time."  
  
"Have your breakfast," Drake said. "I'll get you anything you might need," he offered.  
  
"For now all I can think of is a large and complete first aid kit, with lots of bandages, weapons, some basic tools and one of those foldable laptops, with all the information you can find on Heracles, or Hercules, and his labors, Greek mythology and anything that relates to that, in other mythologies, renaissance, numerology, Byzantine stuff, zodiac, etc," he instructed. He turned to Jen. "Anything you want to add?"  
  
"Hygiene stuff, please. Razor, clean underwear, a change of clothes, and of course portable toilets, please," she demanded, blushing slightly. "Also blankets and pillows, oxygen tanks." She said the last suddenly.  
  
"Oxygen tanks?" Alex asked.  
  
She nodded. "Yes, scuba diving stuff in general," she said, and turning to him she added, "We need equipment to do everything we can't do by ourselves, like scuba diving or climbing."  
  
"True," he agreed. "Don't forget lamps and lanterns."  
  
"And FOOD!" Katie added, amazed at their total disregard for the basic necessities. "Food and water, and supplements."  
  
"I'll get all of that and put it in your dimensional pockets," Drake said. They both opened their mouths. "Yes, you are getting an officer glove each," he said, stopping them in their tracks. "I'll add anything else I can think of, so eat well, put on comfortable clothes, remember to protect yourselves against the cold," he reminded them. "And good luck."  
  
"We'll see you again before we leave," Alex promised, getting up. His father hugged him.  
  
"Be careful, son, and I don't mean just for her, take care of yourself," he pleaded.  
  
"I will," Alex promised.  
  
Jen stood up and was hugged by her father-in-law too. "Take care, Jen. Try to get through this alive," he recommended.  
  
"We'll do more than try, Mr. Drake," Jen promised with tears in her eyes. She turned to see her friends looking back at her, their faces sad and worried. "We'll see ourselves through this, guys," she promised. "We'll come back with our children."  
  
"We know, Jen," Katie said. "We know you can go through this, but we are still scared," she admitted.  
  
"Don't worry, guys," Alex said. "I'll give my life for her if I have to." Jen shook her head and put her fingers on his lips.  
  
"Nobody is giving his or her life for anybody," she chided. "Besides, I wouldn't want to live without you." He smiled at her and she returned the smile, but their eyes were filled with fear and sadness. And even through that, shone determination.  
  
**********************************  
  
The last hugs were given a few meters away from the harbor, only ten minutes before dusk. Jen and Alex were wearing comfortable and warm clothes, and their officer gloves were packed with all kinds of stuff. They held hands as they walked towards the harbor building and went inside. They didn't know if they had to wait there or on the dock, so they stood by the door that led there, but still inside of the building.  
  
Alex wrapped his arms around her shoulders lovingly and she held his wrists where they hung by her neck with her own shaky hands. They stood there, staring towards the skies, which began turning grey and then bluish purple, as Helios returned to the Islands of the Blessed. In what seemed no time at all, Nyx -the night- took over the skies, but the Drakes didn't see it. Hypnos got to them first, silently, fast and mercilessly.  
  
To be continued. 


	3. A walk in the Universe

Chapter 3: A Walk in the Universe.  
  
Jen stirred in Alex's arms. The sound of waves got to their ears and the smell of the ocean got to their noses. She opened her eyes and found herself lying on her back, staring at the bright skies. Alex was wrapped around her protectively, but he was still asleep.  
  
She felt something around her neck. Moving her hand to touch it, she found a necklace with what felt like a stone on it. She wondered what it was, because she hadn't been wearing it when she had been at the harbor. Speaking of which, she noticed they were no longer in the harbor, because they had been transported in their sleep, or so she assumed. They were lying near the beach, the waves almost washing over them.  
  
Jen looked at Alex, whose eyes were still closed, and caressed his forehead. She wondered what he was dreaming about, and it was in that moment she felt it. Instinctively she wrapped her hand around her neck, covering the necklace.  
  
"Damn it!" she cursed. She shook Alex, trying to wake him up. "Alex!" she called urgently. He groaned and then stirred.  
  
"Jennifer?" he asked drowsily. "What's going on?"  
  
"They took us to the site of our first task," she began. "And there's something else," she said, nervously wrapping her hand around her neck again.  
  
"What is it?" he asked, sitting up, completely alert at his wife's gesture.  
  
"They blocked my psychic powers," she announced.  
  
He put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you sure?" he asked.  
  
She nodded. "They used this." She pointed at the necklace.  
  
"Is there a way to take it off?" he wondered, running his fingers over it.  
  
"I don't think so, it feels attached to my skin, more than put over it," she said. "I'm scared."  
  
He wrapped his arms around her. She felt so vulnerable without her powers, so scared. Suddenly, she got the déjà vu feeling that came from her experience in the year 2001. She felt vulnerable, like she was nothing special, like another girl in the bunch. And she didn't want to feel like that, she couldn't feel like that. She had to rescue her babies!  
  
Alex held her tight against his chest, she was trembling. "It's okay, baby," he assured her. "As long as we're together it will be okay."  
  
"I know," she said in a broken voice. "But I'm scared, not knowing what's ahead of me scares me, and add to that not having my powers, and there! I'm petrified!"  
  
"You can't be," he said forcefully. "We don't have time for you to be petrified or anything of the sort, okay? We have a pair of children who need us to save them, Jen, so cut it out," he ordered, because she had begun crying. "Cut it out, Jennifer," he warned.  
  
She sniffed and dried her tears. "You're right." She stood up and looked around. "We have to move, the first task can't be too far away," she said.  
  
He got to his feet too, and checked the list of contents in his officer glove. Faithful to their word, the brotherhood hadn't taken anything from it. "Let's walk in that direction," Alex suggested, pointing at the opposite direction from the sea, where a small path could be seen between the trees that grew by the ocean.  
  
They walked that way and onto the path. As they walked deeper, the trees around them closed over their heads like a ceiling, finally leaving them in darkness compared to the early night. Alex summoned his flashlight and illuminated the path for himself and his wife. They walked through the darkening path for about half an hour until something worth mentioning happened. The path began to lighten again, and finally a gigantic wall appeared in front of them, blocking their way. Alex looked in both directions, but it seemed to go on forever. However it was too high to be climbed, and it was covered in what seemed to be stinging nettles.  
  
"What now?" Jen asked.  
  
"I don't know," he said. "I think we should try to get around it."  
  
"Perhaps this is not the place," she pointed out.  
  
"They wouldn't have left us there if there was a different path," Alex reasoned. "Let's try to get around it; it can't go on forever."  
  
"It can go on for quite a while though," she said, looking to the right.  
  
Alex was looking to the left. "What's that?" he asked suddenly, walking in that direction.  
  
"I'm not going to buy that trick," she argued, not following him.  
  
"It's a star," he said, ignoring her words. He was standing a few feet from her and was looking to the ground. He kneeled and turned his flashlight on again. "It's wooden," he added, looking up at his wife.  
  
She sighed and walked in his direction. Much to her surprise, the wooden star was real, and it was embedded in the ground like it was a part of it. "What do we do with it?" Jen asked her husband.  
  
He tried to move it, but there was no way to even put his fingers near the border. "It's not moving," he said. "I think it's just a sign."  
  
"So we have to go this way?" she asked, pointing at the path behind his back.  
  
He turned and said, "It would be best." He pulled out his compass. "It's west in that direction," he announced.  
  
"Let's go west," she joked and began walking, with him following her closely.  
  
They walked for hours, the wall always by their side. It seemed to have no end. "Are we walking in a straight line?" she asked suddenly.  
  
"Let me check," he said. He pulled out his compass and let out a surprised sound. "We have been making a very slight curve," he announced.  
  
"A gigantic circle?"  
  
"Perhaps," he shrugged. "If that's so, we were both right, direction-wise."  
  
"Left or right is the same."  
  
"Let's go on," he said. She shook her head.  
  
"Let's have something to eat, and let's rest a bit," she pleaded. "I'm hungry and tired."  
  
He checked his watch. "It's ten a.m.," he said.  
  
"The day after we were asked to go to the harbor," Jen said, looking up. The sun was bright. "I'm hungry," she repeated out of nowhere.  
  
He sat down and summoned some food from his glove. They ate silently, both very hungry.  
  
After the meal, they kept walking, finding a new wooden star every hour or so. They walked all afternoon, and around five p.m. they could finally see something that looked like a break in the wall. Tired as they were, they sped up and reached it in almost no time at all. It was a breach in the wall, all right, guarded by a gigantic and extremely heavy looking iron gate. A few feet past it, another wall, just like the one they had been walking along, could be seen.  
  
Alex pushed the gate, and it was surprisingly light, for its size. He held it open for Jen to go through and then followed his wife. Behind them, the gate closed by itself with a loud noise. They turned and tried to open it again, but it was impossible from inside.  
  
Alex cursed. "We're locked in."  
  
"Oh, God," Jen said, scared. "Now what?" she asked him.  
  
He wrapped his arms around her comfortingly. "Let's camp here, we'll spend the night, and tomorrow we'll keep walking, okay?" he suggested.  
  
"Let's keep going for a little longer," she requested. "We can camp a little later."  
  
"Okay," he agreed and then they kept walking. After walking in the same direction- that was now east, for they had turned around half of what they were now certain was a circle- they found a new symbol. It was embedded in the ground like the wooden stars, but it seemed to be metallic. They couldn't recognize it.  
  
Jen pulled out their portable computer from her pocket and Alex scanned the symbol and introduced it into the machine. After a few minutes, they were able to find it. The symbol was how the planet Saturn was represented in antiquity, during the Greek age and before. The computer also told them the material was lead.  
  
"Saturn?" Jen asked after Alex was done reading the information out loud. "Why Saturn?" she asked.  
  
He just shrugged and checked his watch. "It's getting late," he announced. "I suggest we camp by 'Saturn' and continue in the morning."  
  
"I agree," she said.  
  
Their 'camp' was nothing but a double sleeping bag, where they both settled in comfortably. It was electric, so it would keep itself warm all through the night. Alex wrapped his arms around his wife's waist and she settled her head on his chest, near his shoulder. It amazed them both how the familiar position made them forget their unfamiliar location and they both fell deeply asleep after a drowsy 'I love you so much' from Alex.  
  
The next morning, they both woke up before dawn. They were tired and drowsy, but they couldn't afford to wait any longer. Alex summoned some food, they ate quickly, as they kept up a light conversation to avoid falling asleep again.  
  
They packed things up and restarted their walk. They ran across a new 'Saturn' every hour, just like it had been with the stars. They had a quick lunch and kept walking. The sun was already down, and they had been walking with the light from Alex's flashlight for about two hours when they found the door.  
  
An iron gate, just like the previous one, stood between them and what seemed to be a third circle. Alex opened it and after they crossed, it slammed shut behind them. Alex shone the light towards the next wall, and he and Jen noticed, not without fear, that this wall was closer to the second one than the aforementioned had been to the first.  
  
"Are the walls closing in on us?" he asked.  
  
"I think they are," she said. "We have to be careful; these walls are covered in nettles."  
  
"I think we should have dinner and go to bed. It's too dark to keep going and we're both tired," he suggested. She nodded and they got to it.  
  
That night, they found it harder to sleep than the previous one, as the feeling of danger buried itself deeper into them. They lay with their eyes open for a while, before Jen, feeling scared and vulnerable, turned her face and kissed her husband deeply. He returned the kiss just as deeply and they began to feel secure again. They kept on making out until tiredness got the best of them.  
  
Another day had passed, and they still hadn't gotten their children back.  
  
Of course, another day added to the three days that had already passed. During that day, they ran across another sign, that turned out to be Jupiter and was made of tin. They got through Jupiter's circle faster, as the circles seemed to be getting smaller.  
  
After Jupiter, they entered another circle that was even thinner than the previous one. The sign in this one was 'Mars' and it was made of iron. Mars's circle was followed by an even thinner one. So thin Alex had to walk through it with his back arched forward, for his shoulders were too thick for the space between the walls.  
  
Before they moved into the next circle (the night of the same day they had entered Mars) they both put on the diving suits Jen had suggested they bring. Alex got a few stings and cuts from that circle, but it was better than what seemed to be ahead of them. They even put on protective masks, trying to avoid losing an eye or half of a nose in the process of walking through the following circles.  
  
The symbol on the next circle, and they had to go through a lot of problems to identify that one with the computer, was Mercury, and the symbol seemed to be made of glass that contained, well, mercury.  
  
The next symbol, it only took them one day to reach it, was the sun, and it was easily recognizable. It was made of gold, and the Drakes ran around a couple of them, barely looking at them, in the asphyxiating circle, so thin it forced them to walked sideways, instead of facing front. To add insult to injury, the nettles had grown to become a ceiling for the walls, so while Alex walked with a light, for he was carrying the flashlight, Jen couldn't see anything at all, which added to her feeling of vulnerability.  
  
Jen grabbed Alex's hand and he turned to look at her. "Something wrong?" he asked her. His voice sounded hoarse, he had barely talked during the past week.  
  
"Nothing specific," she answered. "It's just that I have no light and I wanted to hold your hand to feel. . . " She tried to find the right word. "Safer," she added in a hoarse whisper.  
  
"Oh," he said simply, but he crossed his fingers with hers and squeezed softly. "I'm extremely tired, but we can't sleep here, unless we sleep standing and lying against the nettles," he said. "So I suggest we strain ourselves a bit more and try to get past the next circle tonight."  
  
"I think you're right, besides the next circle can't be that bad," she said.  
  
She was wrong. It became obvious at first sight. Alex pushed the gate open, but it opened only enough for them to slide in with difficulty, something was holding it almost closed, and that something was the nettle-covered wall.  
  
"Oh, lord," Jen said as she looked apprehensively at the next circle. Alex jerked his head, motioning her to get in. "Ouch," she said immediately. Protective suit or not, there seemed to be no way to escape the never stopping stinging of the nettles.  
  
"Ouch indeed," he agreed as the gate closed behind him. He pointed the flash light to the front, his tired eyes catching a shine from something. They moved towards it, and Alex took a closer look, closer being a relative term considering he could barely move his head. "It's the moon," he whispered.  
  
"The moon?" Jen asked. A spark of recognition went through her brain. "Which was the order of the symbols?"  
  
"First it was stars, then Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, the sun and now the moon," he answered, showing off his wonderful memory.  
  
She whispered to herself for a few seconds, her hand holding his tightly again. "It's the solar system," she said proudly.  
  
"A part of the solar system," he corrected pompously. "A wrongly displayed part."  
  
"Not for the ancient Greeks," she answered. "We are walking through a gigantic and rather sadistic model of the solar system the way the Greeks thought it was. We are making our way to Earth."  
  
"Well, I say we make Galileo proud," he said rather acidly.  
  
"Alex, I have bad news for you," she told him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I think this is nothing but a preparation for the task," she began. "I think the right task is on Earth."  
  
"Well, we're about to find out," he said, pointing his flashlight forward, where something caught its light and reflected it. Something other than the moon, of course.  
  
The last iron gate lead to a huge, ceiling-less space, where Jen and Alex could have run up and down if they had had the energy to do so. The dark sky was filled with stars and both Drakes stood staring at them for a minute. Then, desperate for comfort, they took off their scuba-diving suits, and let their skins breath fresh air for the first time in days.  
  
"I would love so much to take a shower," Jen commented.  
  
Alex summoned food and they both ate quite a lot, for they hadn't eaten anything in at least three days. After they were done digging in, they threw themselves over their sleeping bed, not even covering their skins, wanting to get as much fresh air as possible.  
  
"What do we do now?" Alex asked drowsily.  
  
"We'll find out tomorrow," she answered. "Tomorrow will be a new day."  
  
"Yeah, tomorrow will be a new d--"  
  
And Hypnos, once again, fell over them abruptly.  
  
To be continued. . . 


	4. Harmony

AN: I've done my research in Spanish, and I've tried to translate everything as accurately as I could, but some names might be wrong. Also I couldn't find much about the musical scale. so I'll go really fast through this one. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------  
  
Chapter 4: Harmony.  
  
Jen felt the water splash her face and her chest and laughed happily. Next to her, Alex was enjoying the fresh water on his skin just as much. "I could get used to this," Jen said. "I could so get used to this," she repeated. Alex took some water in the small pot he was holding and threw it in her direction, splashing her back. "THANK YOU!" she yelled happily.  
  
"I have to admit the last thing I expected to find here was fresh water to take a bath!" he commented, pouring water over his head and hair.  
  
Jen's entire body shook, which made her look like a dog shaking off the water. Alex wrapped his cold arms around her body and they kissed, their cold skins pressing against each other. "I love you," she said brightly.  
  
"I love you too," he answered, rubbing his nose against hers romantically. They separated and looked for their clothes and began putting them on, looking around their environment.  
  
The circular area they had reached the night before was really large. It had surprised them to find food, drinks and fresh water to bath when they woke up. They had taken a bath first, their skins damaged by the use of a diving suit for three straight days. Now they were preparing to eat, for they were also starved. The necessities had kept them from paying attention to the rest of the things that lay in the 'room', a series of iron hammers of different sizes and an anvil.  
  
The Drakes sat on the floor and checked the food more closely. It was composed mainly of fruits- solid and in juice- but also included bread and fish. "I wonder why they are feeding us," Alex commented between bites of fish. "You would think they want us to lose."  
  
"Perhaps they think it's not fair that we lose because we're starved," Jen said. "Perhaps they think it's unfair to judge if we are capable of raising our children when we can't think straight."  
  
"Or perhaps for some weird reason they want us to win," he concluded.  
  
"Or perhaps they are poisoning us," Jen said in a careless tone. They both chuckled nervously at the comment, but kept eating. They thought that even if the food was poisoned they were going to die happy after having taken a bath and eaten. Jen took a pomegranate and took a deep bite from it. While she chewed, she asked, "You know what this reminds me of?"  
  
"No," Alex answered, his mouth full of bread.  
  
"Persephone," Jen said. "Demeter's daughter? She ate a pomegranate while she was kidnapped in the Underworld, and therefore she had to stay there a third of the year with Hades, and that's how winter began."  
  
"Let's just hope it doesn't happen to you," he said, taking her hand.  
  
"Is it me or did you actually become more romantic lately?" she asked with a grin.  
  
"I did," he said. "Because I've been really close to losing you forever way too many times, and I just want to make myself sure you know how much you mean to me, everyday."  
  
"Aw! That is so sweet!" she moaned, delighted, reaching across to kiss his cheek.  
  
He blushed slightly and smiled timidly. "Yeah, well."  
  
She chuckled and held his hand. "You mean a lot to me too, baby. You're the most important thing in my life, and I don't want to lose you, ever, because I've been there twice, and I didn't like it," she said seriously. He looked into her eyes and smiled brightly. She returned the smile and moved closer to him.  
  
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, then pressing it against his cheek while he said: "You and me."  
  
"Forever," she completed, kissing his jaw line.  
  
They finished their meal in a much more romantic way. They kept feeding each other bites of food and kissed between bites. "It's been a while since we've done something this romantic," she commented.  
  
He caressed her hair. "That's true, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to break the spell," he answered. "We're going to need to think about this task." He got up and walked toward the hammers.  
  
She followed him. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked, alarmed, when he grabbed one of the hammers and hit the anvil with it, producing a din that made them both cover their ears.  
  
"Well, I'll admit that wasn't very useful," he said when the last echoes started to fade away. "So, if we don't have to hit the hammers against the anvil, what are we supposed to do?"  
  
"I suggest we open our computers and start doing some research. It may take us a little longer, but it will be safer," she said, summoning her computer. He summoned his and they got to work.  
  
Jen and Alex were surprised to find Tao and Buda in their dimensional pockets, but the mice were ready to help. Together they began scanning all the information they had brought with them for something that included hammers and anvils. Not long after, Tao stood on his rear paws and called: "Got something!"  
  
"What?" Alex and Jen asked, in perfect unison.  
  
"Something about Pythagoras," the mouse began. "And his theory of the harmony of the spheres."  
  
"The harmony of the spheres?" Jen asked.  
  
"As you know, the Greek had the idea that the Earth was the center of the universe, and the planets, the sun, and the moon moved around it. Well, Pythagoras said that the universe produces music. He thought the musical scale was perfect mathematically, and said that was due to the harmony of the spheres, or the music of the universe. He said humans could not hear the music because they were used to it, having heard it since their birth. According to him, each celestial body produced a different note, and they all got together forming the most perfect and beautiful melody, the symphony of the Universe," Tao explained.  
  
"Wonderful, but where do the hammers and the anvil enter in?" Alex asked impatiently.  
  
"The legend says Pythagoras had just come up with the idea of the harmony of the spheres, when he was passing by a blacksmith's workshop. He heard the different notes that reached his ears. When he entered, he saw the different notes came from different hammers. He went home, created a very complicated mathematical calculation in order to determine the exact weight and size each hammer had to have to produce each note of the scale, the current musical scale, and asked the blacksmith to create these hammers for him. And he was right; each hammer produced the exact note."  
  
"What was the calculation, and can you perform it?" Alex asked immediately.  
  
"With time the calculation was lost," Tao announced.  
  
"Any ideas?" Jen asked.  
  
"My musical ear is good, but not that good!" Alex admitted.  
  
"Tao? Buda?" Jen asked desperately.  
  
"Well," Buda said. "We do have software that can recognize the musical notes."  
  
"Run it, Jen, cover your ears the best you can. This is going to be loud," he warned her. She nodded.  
  
Alex approached the hammers and organized them by size as approximately as he could. The difference of weight between some hammers was ridiculously small, and therefore their sizes were barely different. Jen helped him, while the robots ran the program needed.  
  
"I think we're set," Alex said. Jen nodded, taking a deep breath.  
  
It took them hours and a terrible headache to put the hammers in the right order. Sometimes waves from the previous hammer affected the computer readings of the current one and they had to go back. They organized the hammers in a long spiral and calculated which were the right ones. Every seven hammers, there was a note.  
  
"Now what?" Alex asked, with all seven hammers in front of him.  
  
"Well, we've walked through the universe," Jen said. "Let's listen to its song."  
  
They slammed all seven hammers in order against the anvil and... Nothing happened.  
  
"I think we messed up," Jen said sadly.  
  
"No, we didn't," Alex said. "Is it me, or did it suddenly get darker in here?"  
  
"You're right, it did," Jen agreed.  
  
Shadows seemed to be falling over the walls and the floor rapidly. "Tao, Buda, back to the pocket," Alex ordered, pressing the teleportation button.  
  
Jen moved closer to her husband. "What's going on?" she asked.  
  
Alex looked up. "A roof." He pointed up. "They're closing a roof over us," he said as the roof closed completely.  
  
In that moment, the floor shook and began sinking. "Now what?!" Jen asked, scared.  
  
"I don't know, baby," he told her, hugging her. "But I think this is where the party really starts!"  
  
To be continued. 


	5. Twelve

Chapter 5: Twelve.  
  
The floor stopped sinking. There was complete darkness around them and Jen and Alex didn't move a muscle for about a minute. Suddenly, ahead of them, lights began turning on. Torches. Alex tried to take a small step forward, but his effort was strangled, literally, by Jen's arms around his waist.  
  
"Please, don't," she begged. She was trembling.  
  
He caressed her back softly. "We can't stay here forever, Jen. One of us has to go first."  
  
"But why does it have to be you?" she asked, obviously panicked.  
  
"Fine, you go first," he agreed.  
  
Much to his surprise, she straightened, smiled her victorious sideways smile and said, "Thank you."  
  
Open mouthed, Alex jumped to her and began tickling her. "I thought you were mortified!" he complained.  
  
"I should have been an actress, shouldn't I?" she said simply.  
  
She walked towards the wall and grabbed a torch. He mirrored her moves. They started down a corridor with marble walls and floor. The ceiling was too high for them to see. The corridor was fairly well lit by the light of many more torches, but there was nothing interesting to see.  
  
"Ow!" Alex exclaimed as he tried uselessly to regain his equilibrium. He failed and fell face first against the floor. "Ouch," he exclaimed again, getting on his knees, opening and closing his mouth as if checking if his jaw was broken. His torch had extinguished with the fall, but Jen's was posed against the floor as she kneeled next to him. "Wow!" he murmured.  
  
"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.  
  
"Wow," he repeated, staring mesmerized at the floor. "Jennifer, look at this," he said, pointing towards it.  
  
Jen tore her eyes from him and lowered them to the even marble floor, except it wasn't remotely even anymore. Now it was covered in magnificent, huge, and incredibly detailed engravings. She sucked in a sharp breath in surprise. "Oh, my God," she whispered, her eyes as mesmerized as his.  
  
"They are so detailed I hadn't noticed them," Alex said. "But probably my shoe did, because I tripped over one," he said, pointing to the floor behind him. Jen crawled back on the floor and looked at the engravings.  
  
"It's the story of Heracles," she said, amazed. "Each huge block is a moment in Heracles' life."  
  
"Impressive," said Alex who had gotten to his feet and was pointing the light of the torch towards the floor in front of his wife.  
  
Jen got to her feet as well. "Let's keep going," she said. They began walking again, but this time looking down at the floor. Heracles story was displayed by the beautiful engravings and right when the twelve tasks began, Alex noticed the walls had also been engraved.  
  
"Jennifer, look at the walls," he said. She looked up to find the symbol of the Zodiac sign Leo engraved several times in the wall that flanked the engravings of the Nemean Lion on the floor.  
  
They kept walking and noticed the correspondence of all twelve tasks with the twelve signs of the zodiac; after the Nemean Lion and Leo came the Hydra with Scorpio by its side, the Ceryneian Hind was paired with Capricorn, the Boar of Erymanthius with Aries, the Augean stables came with Aquarius, the birds of Stymphalis represented Sagittarius, the wild bull of Crete was Taurus, the Mares of Diomedes were flanked by Gemini, the Oxen of Geron with Cancer, the Golden Apples of the Hesperides signified Libra and the Liberation of Theseus had Pisces on its walls.  
  
After walking through Heracles' life, they came across a door that led towards a dark descending spiral set of stairs. Alex put the torch down and summoned his flashlight, which offered a better, brighter light.  
  
"Look at the frame," she pointed out in a whisper. The Zodiacal Circle was engraved around the entrance of the stairs.  
  
"It's amazing, it must have taken them years to accomplish this corridor," he commented as he stepped into the staircase.  
  
"What happened to 'ladies first'?" Jen asked.  
  
"I think he finally got married," was the clever answer she got, they both laughed silently.  
  
Against everything that could be believed, the staircase was also made of marble, and it was dimly lit with torches as well. The staircase twisted around itself. "Oh my God," she whimpered.  
  
"Take a deep breath," he instructed, although he was feeling the tiredness himself already. "Stay against the wall and move slowly." He was breathing almost as fast as she was, staring blankly at the stairs beneath them. "We have to walk, Jen, we won't get through this task unless we walk."  
  
"Okay," she agreed. They began to move very slowly, their eyes still lost in the hypnotizing blackness of the stairs in front of them. After a few minutes of that, Jen's voice could be heard. "Let's talk," she begged.  
  
"Talk about what?" he asked rather snappily.  
  
"Anything," she said. "I'm going to hold the babies for hours when we are done with this. I'm going to hold them tight against my body and I will kiss every inch of their bodies over and over." Her voice broke as she remembered her children.  
  
Alex decided to change the subject before his own eyes filled with tears. "Maybe we can find a nanny and go dancing one night, if you want, or perhaps we can have a date at home, you know? Dinner and dancing and a movie, that way we'd still have the babies close to us," he suggested.  
  
"That would be great, perhaps even making love," she said simply.  
  
"That would be great," he agreed. He took a deep breath. "Have you considered going back to the Force?" he asked suddenly.  
  
"No," she said forcefully. "Not for a second, have you?"  
  
"Sometimes," he admitted, noticing he felt more and more trapped. "I've thought of it, in a 'how-would-our-lives-be-if' kind of way. I haven't considered going back to the Force seriously."  
  
"I know you didn't want to quit," she admitted. "I know you sacrificed the dream of your life for me, Alex."  
  
"I didn't--" he began but she interrupted him.  
  
"I know you aren't happy with the job you have right now, I know you need the action and the danger, and I'm really sorry you had to quit Time Force, baby, but I'm just not ready to let you go back to that yet. I'm sorry," she said and she put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"It was my decision to quit, Jen," he began, and trying to use a stronger voice he completed, "And it will be my decision to go back to it."  
  
"What are you saying?" she asked. She was feeling trapped herself.  
  
"I'm saying the day I decide to go back to the Force, you won't be able to stop me," he explained.  
  
"All right," she said, but her voice was broken. She looked away from him and her eyes fell on the pillar on the middle of the stairs that getting thicker and thicker while the staircase got smaller and smaller. "No," she moaned.  
  
"No what?" Alex asked, turning around.  
  
"No more shrinking spaces," she begged.  
  
At her words Alex also became aware of his surroundings. "Is the staircase shrinking?" he asked her.  
  
She nodded. "Now what? We won't be able to go lower for too long. Let's keep going for as long as we can, and then we'll see."  
  
"Be prepared for anything," he said in a businesslike voice.  
  
"Don't worry," she said. "The stay-at-home blindness is gone now." She tried to keep her voice steady, but failed.  
  
He sighed and turned around to look at her. "I said you won't be able to stop me if I decide to go back someday. I didn't say I had decided to go back yet." He put his hands on her shoulders and she looked up at him. "We are okay for now," he said. "We'll rescue our babies and go back home, to work in our civilian jobs and to live our civilian lives. Jen, I know how you feel. This thing with Mom, and Ransik, hurt you, in more ways than just physical, and I know you are scared of losing me, the kids or yourself. I don't know why, but lately I've been feeling that you are even scared of your psychic powers, you are afraid to use them, to rely on them. Why is that?"  
  
"Because I want to be normal," she whispered with a broken voice, tears running down her cheeks. "I want to blend in, to be unnoticeable."  
  
"But you can't," he said. "Because you are a psychic. You are the pink Ranger. You are Jennifer Scotts Drake, your father's daughter and my wife. But above all, Jennifer, you are an extraordinary woman. You have something different in you that makes you special; that would make you special even if you weren't the pink Ranger, if you weren't a psychic, if you weren't my wife. It was that something that made me smile at you, that made me approach you, that made me love you from the moment I saw you. Jennifer you can't be normal, because you are special." She was crying, but smiling at the same time. "No, you are not special," he told her, drying her tears with his thumbs. "You are extraordinary," he corrected, kissing her on the lips softly.  
  
"That was so sweet, baby," she said and hugged him.  
  
"I love you, Jen," he whispered right in her ear.  
  
"I love you too, baby," she said. He took her hand and laced his fingers with hers.  
  
"Ready to continue our descent to the Underworld?" he asked playfully.  
  
"I'm ready when you are," she said, a smile brightening her tear streaked face.  
  
They continued their descent, but not for long. The space between the walls became so small that Alex could no longer go through it. "End of the road," he proclaimed. The staircase was now much darker, because due to the lack of space the torches had disappeared.  
  
"Now what?" Jen asked, slumping against the wall, tired.  
  
"I think we missed something," he proclaimed. "Let's go back."  
  
"NO!" she complained.  
  
"Jennifer!"  
  
She sighed. "All right." She began climbing back up, sliding her hands on both marble walls. The marble was so polished that her hands slid easily over it until. "Ouch!" she said, when her hand hit something that scratched it. "What's that? It scratched me!"  
  
"It's an engraving," he said.  
  
"Don't they get tired of engraving stuff?" she said angrily, clutching her hand, which was bleeding slightly.  
  
"It's a lion's head," he told her after he had illuminated the engraving with his lamp. The lion of the engraving was roaring to the front, his teeth striking out, his eyes burning with anger, even when represented in the white cold surface of the marble.  
  
"The Nemean Lion," Jen said, now looking interested at the engraving. "Now what?"  
  
"It has to be a sign of something," Alex said, running his hand over the lion face. He pushed it ever so gently and the lion head slid backwards, taking a block of marble with it. "Well, this is interesting," he commented. "Jen, take the lamp." He gave it to her.  
  
He pushed it harder and the block slid further back. The space it was leaving was big enough for both of them. Suddenly, about two feet into the wall, the block of marble suddenly fell into the darkness. "Whoa!" Alex exclaimed pulling back at the right moment, for he would have fallen along with the marble block.  
  
"Wrong path," Jen said, and tried to keep going upwards.  
  
"Come on, Jennifer," Alex said, grabbing her arm. "Where's your sense of adventure?" he asked.  
  
Jen sighed and turned around. "Okay, but we'll use the climbing equipment," she agreed.  
  
"That's what we brought it for, right?" he said.  
  
They summoned and prepared their equipment, and then began descending through the hole in the middle of the stairs, not finding any obstacles. After reaching the floor, they looked around for the pieces of the marble block that had fallen before them, but didn't find any. As they packed their stuff, they heard a sound of chains above their heads, and looked up just in time to see the marble block returning to its position in the wall above.  
  
"We're trapped," Jen announced.  
  
"There has got to be another way out," he told her. "Let's find it." They turned around and walked down the corridor ahead of them. A roar filled the air suddenly, making the hairs on the backs of their necks rise.  
  
"We don't have to actually kill the Nemean Lion, do we?" Jen asked.  
  
"Let's hope not," he said, hiding his fear the best he could.  
  
They held hands and walked further down the corridor until they reached its end. An iron gate fell behind them locking them in the room, and in front of them stood the Nemean Lion.  
  
Twelve times.  
  
To be continued. 


	6. To Blow you Away

Chapter 6: To Blow you away.  
  
"This has got to be a joke," Alex said as he stared around them. The room was large, although not as large as the hammers and anvil one, and twelve statues of the Nemean lion were placed at equal distances from each other on the circular wall.  
  
"Haven't these people ever heard of straight walls?" Jen asked bitterly.  
  
"They have, remember the corridor," Alex commented as he approached the statue that was closer to them. The statues were gigantic and they were all the same, the Nemean Lion, or so they assumed, sitting on its rear paws. Their eyes looked angry and fiery and the material looked like the brotherhood's favorite: marble. The roaring was coming from each one of them in turn.  
  
"They are amazing," Alex declared as he walked back to Jen. The statue roared behind him and he was literally pushed forward by the strength of the wind coming from its mouth, which had opened for the roar and closed again. He looked back at the statue and then at Jen. "That can't be good," he murmured.  
  
But Jen wasn't paying attention. She was staring at the floor in the middle of the room. It was a representation of the cardinal points, like the ones found in maps. Like everything else in the room, it was enormous. In the middle circle - from which came eight arrows, one big that pointed North, three medium that pointed East, South and West, and four small ones that pointed the directions in between - there was a simple inscription:  
  
No Weapon can harm it But its hide must be your present To Zephyrus in order to move on. You have twelve hours.  
  
"Another riddle," Jen sighed. "And this one has a deadline."  
  
Alex read it standing next to Jen. "This one is simpler than the others," he said. There was a growl behind their backs. "We still have twelve hours, right?" he asked.  
  
"Eleven hours and fifty-seven minutes actually," she answered. They were both stiff and breathing fast.  
  
"Don't be scared," Alex said, grasping her hand nervously.  
  
She giggled. "I'm not scared," she answered. The growl repeated louder and she jumped screaming into her husband's arms. "I don't want to fight a lion!" she begged.  
  
Alex hugged her. "We'll be fine," he said. "We've fought mutants, we can fight a lion." He sounded more optimistic than he really was.  
  
Jen breathed heavily in his arms. "I'm tired of this!" she complained. "I'm tired of walking and not having my powers with me and everything! And I don't want to fight a freaking lion!"  
  
"Fine, I'll fight the lion," Alex said simply.  
  
"I don't want you to fight the lion either!" she said.  
  
"Well, I guess we have a little proble-" his words were cut by her mouth on his as she took him in a deep French kiss. The lion roared again. They let go and looked into each other's eyes. "We need a plan," Alex said weakly. That kiss had been what he had needed, but it had also weakened him, leaving him lightheaded.  
  
"Okay," she said, sitting down. Alex sat next to her and she put her head on his shoulder. "The riddle is rather simple," she began. "If I remember correctly, Heracles couldn't harm the Nemean Lion with either his arrows or his sword."  
  
"But he did stun him with the club he had made for himself," he reminded her.  
  
"He strangled the lion and then used the lion's own claws; they were sharp enough to cut through the hide. Then he used the latter as a hooded cloak, with the lion's head over his own head."  
  
"Because the hide was impenetrable," Alex said. He took a deep breath. "Now with the other part, Zephyrus, can't say I remember him particularly."  
  
"Me neither," Jen said. She summoned Tao from her dimensional pocket.  
  
"What can I do for you?" the mouse asked.  
  
"Search for anything you can find on Zephyrus," Jen ordered.  
  
"On it," the mouse said. Only a minute later he stood on his rear paws. "Got it right here," he announced.  
  
"We're listening," Jen said, finally leaving Alex's shoulders and sitting straight to listen to the robot.  
  
"Zephyrus, or Favonious as the Romans called him, was one of the gods of the winds, brother to Boreas, Eurus and Notus, later another four gods of the winds were added, Apeliotus, Livos, Skerion and Kaikias. The gods of the winds were the sons of Astraeus, god of the night-sky and Eos, goddess of the morning, the wind gods are usually represented as men with wings--"  
  
"Tao, just Zephyrus," Jen reminded him.  
  
"Right," the robot said, slightly embarrassed. "Zephyrus was the west wind, he was fine and pleasant. He was known as 'the protector of the plants' because he brought them humidity. He was the young man with a lovely face and long hair with fruits and flowers on the wrap that encircles his body."  
  
"So, we have to go to the nice wind Zephyrus, bringing him the lion's hide as an offering," Alex said. "That means we have to go to the West, that's what this," he pointed at the cardinal points on the floor, "is here for."  
  
"It points to one of the lions," Jen said, pointing at said lion.  
  
"I wonder what will happen," he said.  
  
"Let's eat," she proposed dying to change the subject, and summoned some bread and juice, not a champions' meal, but it was good enough for now. "Tao, tell us about the other winds meanwhile."  
  
"Okay," the mouse said. "Boreas, the coldest and most powerful wind, the Romans called him Aquilo. He is winged, bearded, extremely strong and usually clad in a short pleated tunic. He was very violent towards humans, had two sons and two daughters. Also had twelve mares that could race on the ground without destroying the grain. He was known as the great wind of the wintery north."  
  
"I don't want to run into that one," Alex commented.  
  
"Notus, who is the south wind, was feared greatly, especially by the seamen, because he was dynamic, stormy, and dangerous when they were sailing. The Greeks feared him most when he flew alongside Boreas. He was represented as a young, beardless man with long hair covered by a short mantle with one open arm. In his hand he had a hydria, which is a vessel for water from which all the rain was gushing out.  
  
"Eurus was the east wind and he brought bad storms, but he wasn't as bad as Notus and Boreas. The Romans called him Vulturnus, and he was represented as a young man wearing a short mantle around his body, with a curly head and unkempt beard.  
  
"Apellotus was the southeast wind and he brought a refreshing rain. Livos , his brother, would also bring rain. He was the lukewarm southwest wind. Skerion was the northeast wind, and was considered a smart wind. Kaikias was the northeast wind and wasn't liked very much, for he brought the snow, blizzards and cold. There are another four winds, but I don't know much about them. Not even their names, sorry," the robot said and stood on all four legs again.  
  
"Well, that was instructive," Alex said. "I say we rest a little while, we still have time, is that okay?"  
  
"Yes," she said simply.  
  
He took off his jacket and she did the same. He summoned his camping pillow and put it under his head. Tao and Buda were left on guard and they both lay on the floor, Alex's strong abdomen serving Jen as a pillow.  
  
They looked at each other silently for a few minutes, she caressing his chest, him caressing her hair. "I wonder whatever happened to Wes and Jessica, and Josephine and Kevin," she said softly.  
  
"I wonder how Katie, Trip, and Lucas are doing back at home," he commented.  
  
"You think Lucas has already pulled out his hair?" she asked jokingly.  
  
"Lucas would rather pull out his toenails than his hair," he answered and they both laughed.  
  
Silence fell over them and Jen looked away from his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. "If you want to go back to the Force."  
  
Alex groaned. "Not again."  
  
"You can do it," she finished, pushing herself up on one elbow. He looked at her, his face blank. "I understand it's your life. You've lived for Time Force ever since you were born, and even now you do, but in a different way. I can't compete with that." He opened his mouth, but she put her fingers against his lips. "And I won't even try to. I understand I have to share you with Time Force and I'm okay with that." She smiled and kissed him briefly. "You can go back if you want to," she repeated.  
  
"Why the sudden change of mind?" he asked.  
  
"We are about to fight a giant lion," she said. "Nothing you can do in Time Force will ever be worse than this."  
  
He chuckled and moved up to kiss her, then lay back down and closed his eyes. "I'm taking a nap now," he announced.  
  
She put her head on his stomach and closed her eyes too. "Me too, baby,"  
  
They didn't know for how long they slept, but way too soon, Tao and Buda were shrieking loudly. And wind was blowing. Strong, cold wind. They opened their eyes drowsily until they saw the lion. That's when they woke up completely.  
  
"This is just evil," Alex said as he took Jen's hand and pulled her to the wall as far from their new enemy as he could.  
  
"We have to strangle him," Jen said.  
  
"I thought he was made of marble," he commented.  
  
"Me too," she said.  
  
The lion in front of them wasn't made of marble at all. It was a robot, covered with a real looking hide. It was enormous, had bright red eyes, big fangs and very natural moves. And he was ready to attack. He roared menacingly.  
  
"We can do this," Jen said firmly. "I've fought bigger and badder robots than this one."  
  
"How do we know he's a robot?" Alex asked. "He looks very real!"  
  
In that moment the lion roared again, close enough for them to see inside his mouth clearly and smell his breath. His really bad breath.  
  
"Oh, my God," Jen whimpered. "He's alive!"  
  
To Be Continued. 


	7. Leo

Chapter 7: Leo  
  
"Alex, he's real! He's a real lion!" Jen screamed, scared.  
  
"And he's going down face first as if he was a robot," Alex said firmly.  
  
"What do we do now?" she asked. The lion jumped towards them and they both ran to the sides, trying to keep it busy.  
  
"We have to work together," Alex yelled from one side of the room to the other, where Jen was standing. "Distract him the best you can while I summon something to stun him with."  
  
"Why do I have to distract him?" she complained.  
  
"Because you're faster and more agile," he said. "And I'm stronger than you and can stun him easier. We each have to play with our strengths!"  
  
Jen saw the lion looking at her and ran towards Alex, the feline following her only with its head. "He's smart, he's not moving," Jen told Alex.  
  
"I don't need much time, I think I've got it, but I need him to leap, so I can hit him with his own strength, added to mine," he said.  
  
To add insult to injury, at that moment, just like it had when they woke up, they'd remember later, a chilling cold wind began to blow from a circular opening in the wall that had been hidden by the marble statue of the lion that still remained to be seen.  
  
"What the hell is this?" Jen asked when snow began to come along with the wind.  
  
"I think it's the reason we need the lion's hide," he said, keeping his eyes on the lion, which was shielding its eyes from the wind that stopped blowing after a few minutes.  
  
The lion stood again and roared loudly. Jen looked at it and ran to the opposite side of the room and back several times. "You can't keep doing that," Alex said. The lion had turned and was looking ready to jump at them. "This might be my chance, Jen, summon your climbing rope a.s.a.p."  
  
"Okay," she said. She moved two steps to the right and the lion jumped over her, landing on top of her, its claws sinking into her right arm. Jen screamed in pain.  
  
"NO!" Alex yelled. The Lion raised its head and his teeth shone as he got ready to bury them in Jen's throat.  
  
"ALEX!" Jen yelled. "Help me!" Her eyes were closed, she could smell the lion's breath. Then, suddenly, the whole weight of the beast collapsed on top of her.  
  
"Honey!" Alex called. "Honey are you okay?" he asked. sounded very worried.  
  
"My arm," Jen moaned. Her arm was bleeding considerably, three deep wounds cut deep where the claws had cut. Her bone was also broken.  
  
"Baby!" Alex said, pushing the lion's enormous weight off her.  
  
"Strangle him," Jen said with a grimace. "Now, while he's unconscious."  
  
"No, your arm first," he said.  
  
"No, Alex. Without my help it will be harder for you to defeat him awake."  
  
"You are bleeding out," he pointed out.  
  
"Prioritize," she said simply. "Defeat the lion. Continue, even if you lose me, you have to keep going, for Adam and Andrew."  
  
"I can't," he said. "I can't focus if you're dying."  
  
"I'm not dying," she reminded him. "He broke my arm, I've been worse."  
  
"Are you sure? What about the pain?"  
  
"Seeing this lion eat you, or feeling him eat me would hurt more. And let's not talk about not seeing my children ever again."  
  
He considered things with colder head and blood. She was right. He left her clutching her arm and summoned his own climbing rope. He put it around the lion's neck and began twisting and tightening his hold on it. He kept tightening and tightening, feeling the lion's flesh give more and more resistance. He closed his eyes to gather the remaining of his strength, sitting on the lion's side, his hand clutching the rope as he twisted it tighter and tighter. He pulled the rope closer, lifting the lion's head with his own strength and suddenly felt the rope being jerked from his hand with a sickening crack.  
  
He opened his eyes and saw Jen lying against the wall in front of him, her left arm covered in the blood that was still coming from her wounds, and the right hand holding the scuba diving tank he had used to stun the lion. She had used it to crush the lion's throat when he had lifted its head.  
  
She smiled at him briefly and fainted, her body sliding down the white wall leaving a smear of blood.  
  
"Honey!" he yelled, running to her. "Jen?!" he called her. He reached her and grabbed her broken arm, pulling it back into place with a sickening sound. Flashback from the dark stable, his mother kneeling cuffed and Jennifer. Jennifer almost dead, her entire body covered in bruises, her leg broken, her will also broken. He fought the images off from his mind and summoned his medical unit.  
  
He pulled out some cleaning solution and poured it into a piece of cotton, and cleaned her wounds the best he could. He tried to remember what he and Trip had done to Jen back in the stable, but the images were too awful. And he remembered she hadn't had any open wounds back then.  
  
Then he summoned Buda -who had hidden behind one of the statues after alerting them, along with Tao- and the robots guided him through the process of stitching her wounds. She half regained consciousness in the process and began wailing, and was sweating when he was only half-way through.  
  
"Hey, hey," he said softly when she tried to move. "Stay still, I'm almost done," he lied.  
  
"I'm thirsty," she said and grimaced when he passed the needle through her flesh again.  
  
He stopped and looked for some anesthetic in the kit. He found a topical one that would allow her to stay conscious without feeling the pain. He applied it as fast as he could, for she was still bleeding. Then he took some water from his glove and put the bottle to her lips. She drank thankfully, then relaxed and drifted back to her semi-consciousness. Alex returned to his stitching.  
  
After a few minutes he was done. Buda suggested that he get the painkiller and give it to Jen. He pulled the injection and applied it, wanting to make his wife feel the best she could. He looked around wondering when was the next part of this task going to begin if there was any.  
  
"Alex," Tao began. "Jen needs a transfusion of blood."  
  
Alex looked at the robot numbly. "Do we have that equipment here?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, I'll guide you through the process of transferring some of your blood to her; your blood types are compatible, so it should work,"  
  
"You do that," Alex said, looking for the transfusion equipment with trembling hands.  
  
"And remember you have to take the lion's hide after you are done. You only have six hours left."  
  
After he had given Jen blood for a few minutes he stopped, not wanting to lose too much of his own blood, and moved towards the lion's corpse. Jen was asleep, and Alex was glad. He was disgusted with what he was about to do and didn't want her to see it.  
  
Taking a deep breath, he broke the lion's front leg several times with sickening crushing sounds, using the very useful oxygen tank, and finally used the lion's own claws to cut through the skin on its abdomen. Blood began to leak out of the animal's body. Alex began retching.  
  
"This is so disgusting," he admitted, but kept working.  
  
After one hour, Alex threw himself next to Jen and closed his eyes taking deep breaths. He wanted to throw up. He was covered in blood from the lion, but the hide was off its body.  
  
Jen stirred and moaned softly in pain. Alex opened his eyes and moved closer to her, caressing her hair. "Relax, you'll be okay, baby," he promised.  
  
She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Why are you covered in blood?" she asked.  
  
"It's not mine, it's the lion's," he told her. "Remember I had to take the hide off the body," he said, suppressing the desire to retch.  
  
"Disgusting," she muttered. He couldn't help but chuckling.  
  
"How are you feeling? Are you strong enough to move? I want to change your position," he said.  
  
"I'm dizzy and weak," she informed him. "I don't think I can move."  
  
"I'll pick you up then," he told her and got up, ready to lift her and move her to a safer location.  
  
"Alex." Buda began.  
  
"What?" Alex asked.  
  
"You really need to see that," the robot said, pointing at the lion of the south.  
  
Alex looked and saw the marble statue sinking into the floor. Hot air began blowing from the hole in the wall behind it and at the same time the hole in the north, the one the previous lion had left, began blowing cold air. Alex noticed he and Jen were on the east side, and remembered they had to go west.  
  
A roar cut the air suddenly. He stood in front of Jen and grabbed his climbing rope. A new and awake lion was in front of him. It made sense, there were two of them and they needed two hides. He took a deep breath and focused. He had to fight this one himself, and it had to be quick, because Jen needed him to care for her.  
  
This lion was a female, and it was more aggressive than the male. He looked into her eyes and she roared menacingly.  
  
"Here, kitty, kitty," Alex provoked, even if he knew he couldn't put himself in too much danger, for he was the only player left. He positioned himself in the right spot and his smell of blood attracted his enemy.  
  
The lioness leaped towards him, but Alex was ready, he jumped to the side, and the lioness couldn't stop herself, landing hard against a statue of a fellow lion. She was hurt, at least one broken bone, Alex could hear. He thought as fast as he could while the lioness recovered and the wind began blowing again, both at the same time. Alex summoned his sleeping bag.  
  
"I know I'll be sorry for this later, but a need is a need," he said. He prepared the black sleeping bag and when the wind stopped blowing, which took a considerably longer amount of time, he threw it over the lioness' head before she had recovered from the wind blowing in her face.  
  
The lioness began fighting the bag, trying to take it off her eyes, Alex meanwhile prepared a lasso with his climbing rope, throwing swift glances at Jen, who was awake and had managed to move closer to the statue and hide from the lioness' sight. She was watching him nervously, but he smiled at her and nodded. She smiled back weakly and closed her eyes, relaxing against the statue.  
  
The lioness succeeded in removing the sleeping bag from her face through the means of slashing it to shreds. But Alex's plan succeeded in the end, because she was dizzy and had lost her sense of direction briefly.  
  
And it was that brief moment Alex took advantage of and threw his lasso around the lioness' head, using the great aim he had obtained with years of training. Then it was just about pulling. He pulled as hard as he could, and the lioness responded by pulling hard in the opposite direction.  
  
When she was pulling really hard, helping Alex to asphyxiate her without knowing, he let go, and she crashed headfirst against a statue, finally losing consciousness. Alex tightened his grip on her neck and finally the lioness stopped breathing. He crushed her skull just to be safe.  
  
Wind began to blow again, harder and for longer than before. He looked at Jen, and she had fallen asleep again. He remained with the lioness while the wind threatened to blow him away.  
  
Then he repeated with the female the process of the male, wasting another hour. Now he just had four hours left. He moved towards Jen dragging both hides. She was asleep, and looked less pale.  
  
He picked all his stuff up, and took another shot of painkiller from the first aid kit and injected his wife with it. She opened her eyes when he stung her. "Ouch," she said thickly.  
  
"Come on, I need you to wear one of the hides and move to the west," he told her.  
  
"Okay," she agreed, sitting up slowly with the help of her husband. Then he helped her stand up, and helped her keep her equilibrium by wrapping one arm around her waist. He then helped her wrap the lioness' hide over her shoulders, being careful with her broken arm, and - after leaving her holding to the wall - wrapped the lion's hide over his own shoulders.  
  
"Okay, let's go. Slowly, one step at a time," he said, wrapping his arm around her waist again.  
  
Again, and unsurprisingly, the north and south wind began to blow stronger than ever. And the remaining ten statues began to sink at once, revealing holes on the wall that expelled wind at enormous speed and with aggravating circumstances.  
  
Each hole was expelling wind in representation of each of the gods of the winds, which meant to get to the west hole, say Zephyrus, they had to go either in front of Boreas, who was cold and strong enough to send them flying across the room, or in front of Notus, who was expelling water and could also send them face first into Boreas hole. The strength of the winds, with now all twelve gods of the winds blowing, was unbelievable. They were now pushing Jen and Alex against the wall, making it impossible for them to move.  
  
"WE HAVE TO TRY TO MOVE TO THE SOUTH!" Alex yelled in Jen's ear, the hide protecting his skin and his eyes, for they were wearing the lion's heads over their own, like Heracles had. "WE STILL HAVE FOUR HOURS TO MAKE IT TO ZEPHYRUS!"  
  
"OKAY!!" she yelled back. They began to move to the side, stuck against the wall, very slowly, for Jen's weakness didn't allow them to go very fast. They fought against the strength of the winds for a couple of feet, and that took them approximately half an hour. Then the winds stopped suddenly.  
  
"MOVE!" Alex yelled at Jen. "AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" he ordered. They began to move, one step at a time but faster. They were tired and Jen was very weak. They had to stop every few steps and she would lay her weight on Alex. After they had passed one hole and were about to reach the other, the winds started blowing again and they had to repeat the process.  
  
Finally, after hours of walking against the wind, they were between Apellotus -southeast - and Zephyrus. From Zephyrus was coming only a soft breeze. But Jen had given more than she could afford and was about to faint.  
  
"COME ON; BABY; WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" Alex told her when she fell limply in his arms. "JENNIFER WAKE UP!" he yelled, shaking her. She groaned and moved one more step. "WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME; JEN WE HAVE TO HURRY!" he said. "FOR ADAM AND ANDREW!!"  
  
"Adam." Jen whispered, but Alex couldn't hear it. He took all of her weight in his arms and dragged her half conscious towards Zephyrus. They only had fifteen minutes left.  
  
"JENNIFER, I CAN'T DO THIS ALONE!" he half begged. She jerked herself up suddenly and began supporting her own weight.  
  
They were only three steps away from Zephyrus, the hides protecting them from the cold and the fire coming from the holes on both sides of their entrance. Jen got to the hole first and it was big enough for them to go through, hides and all. Alex helped Jen go through it first and then followed her.  
  
There was a tunnel that went downwards. He helped her move through it and after not too long they reached a clearing. "Well, that was easy," Alex joked. But Jen didn't laugh, she was lying on the floor unconscious. Alex turned her over and wiped the hair from her face, it was covered in the lioness' blood, like his own hands. "Rest now, baby," he told her.  
  
He smelled a sweet smell on the air, like the one he had smelled in the room the night the twins had been kidnapped. He welcomed the drowsiness that came with it, and lay next to his wife, seeking for her hand in his last waking moment.  
  
To be continued. 


	8. Love

Chapter 8: Love.  
  
Alex opened his eyes slowly, his head hurting him the way it did whenever he overslept. Not that it happened often, but when it did it always left him with a migraine. He tried to sit up, and when he put his right hand on the floor to push with, he felt a sharp pain running up his arm.  
  
He grimaced but made no noise. He looked at his hand and noticed it was covered with a bandage. He looked at it, confused. He didn't remember hurting his hand, and most importantly, he didn't remember bandaging it.  
  
Looking around for Jen, he saw she was still asleep. She looked less pale and her arm was covered in a new bandage. Her right hand was bandaged too. And she was clean- sparkling clean- and so was he.  
  
Somebody had washed them and bandaged them while they were asleep. And then, he found himself thinking with a pang of anger and jealousy that someone had seen his wife naked and washed her naked body while she lay asleep and helpless, while he had been asleep too. Someone other than HIM had seen and touched Jennifer's naked body.  
  
Just as he was about to explode in an angry outburst he realized that someone had seen and washed HIS naked body when he was asleep, too. For a second his anger turned to vulnerability. He had been drugged and asleep when some stranger had taken off his clothes and washed his body. He shuddered to think what other things they could have done to him and his wife, and it was then when his attention returned to his hand.  
  
Slowly he removed the bandage, wondering how he and Jen could both have hurt their right hands at the same time, but the answer never truly occurred to him; in the palm of his hand, right at the base of his little and ring fingers the symbol for the sign Leo was tattooed, with a gold yellow ink.  
  
He stared at it for a few minutes and wiggled his fingers a bit, a smile creeping into his face as he got more and more used to his new tattoo. He finally chuckled, amused, and put the bandage back on. He felt like they had made some advance, at least a little one. He finally had the feeling they were moving forward.  
  
Jen stirred and looked at him when she opened her eyes. She smiled silently, and he approached her, to help her sit down. Before she said anything he caressed her hair and kissed her forehead. She laid all her weight on his chest for a moment, letting him pamper her.  
  
"How's the arm?" he asked softly.  
  
"It doesn't hurt as much. It feels a lot more healed today," she said. "Whenever today is."  
  
He put his hand on her forehead gain and then on her neck, but not romantically, he was feeling her temperature. "I think you have fever," he told her.  
  
"Me too," she admitted. "I could swear I have nano-machines in my bloodstream if it wasn't impossible."  
  
"Actually I think it's quite possible," he told her. "Have you noticed you're not covered in lion blood anymore? Did you notice your arm bandage is new and it's made of pure cotton? Did you notice the bandage on your right hand?"  
  
"No, I hadn't," she admitted. She raised her hand to eye level and turned it around slowly. She looked up at him questioningly. "When did I hurt my hand?" she asked him.  
  
"You didn't, and neither did I," he said, showing her his own bandage.  
  
"Then what is this?" she asked, her voice betraying some of her alarm. She began tugging on the bandage the best she could with her broken arm.  
  
"Let me help you," he offered and peeled it off, showing her the gold yellow symbol that was now part of her hand forever. "Pretty, isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah, it's pretty," she said.  
  
"I got one myself," he said proudly, showing her his bandaged hand.  
  
"And I think you've got some fever yourself," she said, pressing her cheek against his neck. "Yes, you are very hot."  
  
"That would explain the headache," he said, helping her to lie back down. "Let's sleep some more."  
  
"Okay." **********************  
  
Jen opened her eyes again after a few hours, feeling a lot better. Alex lay next to her, his face still relaxed and his eyes still closed. She didn't feel like sitting up, so she just rested there, looking at the blackness over her. She could hear water, a single drop of water falling into a puddle. She found the sound relaxing and listened to it quietly, taking deep breaths. Next to her, Alex moved, and lying on his side, he put his arm around her waist.  
  
She looked at his face, so close to hers, and smiled. She put her good arm over his and caressed his upper arm with her hand. Turning her head, she moved slightly to kiss his forehead.  
  
"I love you," she said. "I really love you. I don't know where I would be if I had never met you, but I certainly wouldn't be in a marble room with my arm broken and a tattoo on my hand and feeling the happiest I have ever felt, just because you are with me. If I had never known you I don't know what would have become of me, but I know wherever I was, I would be feeling something is missing." She moved closer to him and kissed his lips while he slept. He kissed her back in his sleep. "I love you. I love you so much those words aren't big enough to describe what I feel for you; those three words are way too small for describing my feeling for you, but I don't have any others, so I'll stick to those." She finished her little speech with another tender kiss on his lips and lay there, hearing the drops of water fall and feeling her husband's warmth around her.  
  
She loved him all right. And most importantly, he loved her back. She felt he did. She knew he did. In fact, if he was awake he would be kissing her injured arm trying to heal it with only the force of his love. He loved her; she had known that before the very first words, before the very first kiss, before the very first date. She had known since she had seen the shade of blue of his eyes had gone lighter when he looked at her. He had blushed so very slightly and had smiled so shyly she could have sworn she had seen the little winged baby shoot an arrow in his butt.  
  
And she had felt the arrow sting her, too. She couldn't explain how, but the minute they crashed there had been electricity. No, electricity was too vague, too common for what had been there. It had been bonding. Instant bonding, like magnetism, and not that she felt attracted towards his good heart or his smile. It was literal magnetism, their bodies had physically attracted each other into that crash and she had known, before she saw him, before he handed her helmet back to her, she had know she loved him. She had known he was The One. And even after everything they had gone through, she was sure he was The One.  
  
He opened his eyes and saw her staring at him silently. She smiled and he smiled back, in that natural way they had of communicating. He caressed her face and blew her a kiss from a couple of inches away. She moved closer to him, feeling his warm breath on her face and smiled wider. She was happy he was there, and she was happy he loved her, and she was happy he wanted to kiss her, because she was there for him, and she loved him and she wanted to kiss him.  
  
They kissed slowly, taking pleasure in everything the kiss involved, not just their lips meeting and moving in coordination, feeling the warmth and taste of the other's lips pressed against them, but everything a kiss involved the rest of their bodies in. They took pleasure in the increased speed of the beating of their hearts. They took pleasure also in the way their noses caressed each other. They took pleasure in the way their bodies attracted each other and stuck together, their legs caressing, their abdomens caressing, their hips moving back and forth mimicking softly and barely noticeably the movements they made during the couple's loving, the movements that took the lovers to their physical bliss that always came after the emotional and mental bliss, that came just from seeing each other, from touching slightly, from knowing the other was there.  
  
They took pleasure in all the thoughts that crossed their minds when they were kissing. Those thoughts that couldn't be expressed with words, that couldn't be described, that had a meaning so deep that only the spirit could understand, those thoughts their minds just let pass, not trying to process them, not wanting to understand their meaning consciously, because, what's so good about a love you know the meaning of? Why loving if you already know why? What magic was there in a love that came from the mind and not from the soul, from the heart?  
  
They even took pleasure in the pain their lungs felt when they tried to work and found themselves unable due to lack of air. That pain that reminded them they were alive and that it wasn't a dream. That pain that also reminded them they weren't one being, but two beings that had learned how to live like one, caring about each other as much as they cared for themselves.  
  
They opened their eyes and looked at each other, smiling again. They caressed each other with their eyes and Jen forgot about her arm, they forgot about the tattoos and forgot about the marble room and about the giant lions and Heracles. They forgot because they had mental and emotional bliss, and their hands began to move up and down each other's bodies looking for that physical bliss.  
  
Alex kissed her and she kissed back. "I love you," he said.  
  
"And I love you," she said.  
  
"I know," he said. She smiled wide and brought his face closer for another kiss.  
  
"Yes, you know," she said when they broke apart.  
  
And for the next hour, there was no need for more words.  
  
To be continued. 


	9. Patience

Chapter 9: Patience.  
  
"Well, the good news is that we have proven ourselves warmhearted, creative, enthusiastic, broad-minded, faithful, and loving, which are some of the positive characteristics of the sign Leo," Alex announced after reading the letter the brotherhood had left over them when they fell asleep after their love-making.  
  
"And that my arm is fully healed!" Jen announced happily waving it around.  
  
"I noticed," he said, smiling. Then his face went dark. "Bad news is that water dripping is getting on my nerves!" he announced angrily.  
  
"Mine too," she admitted.  
  
They were seated on the ground, as bored as oysters and unbelievably annoyed by the once-relaxing sound of drops of water falling in a puddle that, by that time, they thought must have been around the size of the Pacific Ocean. Alex lay back and closed his eyes with a deep breath. Jen lay next to him and sighed, bored. He moved a bit, clearly uncomfortable.  
  
"Man, this floor is really hard to stay on," he sighed.  
  
Jen made an angry noise, "Alex, do you mind telling me what is the difference between this floor and the extra hard mattress we have at home?" she asked, annoyed.  
  
"You have a problem with my anatomic mattress?" he asked, trying to keep his cool.  
  
"Oh, NO! How could I? It's so comfortable it's like a damn waterbed!" she said, looking away from him.  
  
"You find our anatomic mattress uncomfortable?" he asked, raising himself on one elbow looking at her.  
  
"ANATOMIC?!" she yelled, sitting up, her voice annoyed and angry. "How can something that doesn't even attempt to remotely resemble the human body be anatomic?!"  
  
"Jen, Ransik injured my back, I need to sleep in a firm bed," he said, sitting up. He was defensive and she was aggressive. And she was getting on his nerves.  
  
"A firm bed is one thing, Alex. We have a stone bed!"  
  
"It's not that hard," he said. "And like I said, the doctor said my back-"  
  
"Your back works perfectly fine when it is about fighting mutants or killing lions or even having sex! But curiously it can't rest on a comfortable bed!" She got up and began pacing the room angrily.  
  
The water drops continued to fall on the background.  
  
"You want us to change the mattress?" Alex asked.  
  
"Of course I want us to change the mattress!" she yelled at him. He got to his feet himself. "Do you have any idea of how horrible it was to try to sleep on that bed pregnant with twins?!"  
  
"Jen, we've been married for over two years, why are you saying this now?" he asked.  
  
"Because there's nothing else to do!" she answered.  
  
"Other than fighting over a mattress?!" he asked in disbelief.  
  
"Well, I'm sorry all the big issues in our marriage are solved!" she said.  
  
"Well, they're not," he said.  
  
"What issue is there in our marriage that we haven't solved?" she asked him, glaring at him menacingly. "Because this is our marriage, half of it is mine, and I think that gives me the right to know the issues it has."  
  
"The Time Force thing," he said simply with a smart, winning face that reminded her of Wes.  
  
"What is the Time Force thing?" she asked. "I told you, you can go back." She turned away from him.  
  
"I want you to come back with me," he said.  
  
"NO," she said firmly, but not looking at him. "Alex, don't ask me that."  
  
"You dragged me out," he said. She turned to him and opened her mouth but he cut her off. "And I have the right to drag you back in."  
  
"We have children now, Alex. This isn't about you and me anymore, you can go back to the Force, it's your life, I understand. But I want to stay a civilian and take care of my children."  
  
"Our children, Jennifer," he said warningly, as he prepared to take the offensive on a more serious matter than a mattress.  
  
"Fine, they are our children, and I want to devote my life to taking care of them."  
  
"I won't let you do that," he said.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I couldn't work knowing you are sitting on a couch crying your eyes out waiting to hear any news from me, and imagining the worst all night long every night," he admitted.  
  
She moved her lips but no sound came out. She wanted to yell and be angry at him, but how do you yell at a man who has just told you that he's worried about what you might feel while he's out there doing his thing. "You can stay out," she said at last.  
  
"You know I can't, not for long."  
  
"Why not?" she asked again.  
  
"Because I'm miserable," he admitted. "Outside the Force I'm miserable, Jen, and staying like this for too long might lead me into severe depression, and I don't know, drinking, drug use, suicide." He shut up when he saw the tears running down her cheeks.  
  
"Shut up," she begged. "Don't say those things."  
  
"It's true," he admitted.  
  
"So you are miserable," she said. "I don't make you happy anymore? Our children don't make you happy?"  
  
"Yes you do, and they do too, Jen, but this..." He waved his hands around. "This is my element. The action, the adrenaline, the fighting. This is my thing; this is what I like."  
  
"Walking between nettles, exploding your head with hammers, fighting lions! That's your thing? That's what you like to do?!"  
  
"Yes," he said. "And that's what you liked to do, but you have changed so much! Now you're scared of everything! Acting like.like a." he couldn't get himself to say those words.  
  
"Like a what, Alex?!" she demanded.  
  
"Like a woman," he finished.  
  
"Well Alex, you see, the thing is I AM a woman!!" she yelled.  
  
"Yes, but not a stay-at-home!" he said, moving to her. She pushed his hand away angrily. "This isn't the girl I met crying because she was about to fail the Time Force academy. This isn't the girl that jumped happily and whose eyes shone when I promised to help her graduate, and this certainly isn't the perfectly capable officer who led a team of three officers and two civilians to the capture of one of the world's most dangerous criminals, or the perfectly capable officer with psychic powers who captured, on her own, the most dangerous criminal there was, my mother."  
  
"It was different then," she said softly.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because when we first met I wasn't in love like this, and I wasn't a mother. Back then I didn't have anything to lose, now I have too much," she said, finally letting him hug her.  
  
"Why do you have to assume you'll lose everything?" he asked.  
  
"Because I've been through too much to be optimistic," she answered, slipping from his arms again.  
  
"Jen," he started after her but stopped when she yelled.  
  
"Can someone shut off the goddamn water drip already?! This is like a damned Chinese torture!"  
  
"Exactly, and we are letting it get to us," he said. "It's made us angry and snappy and turned us against each other."  
  
"I don't want to go back," she said and her voice sounded like a plea from someone who has just been sentenced to death. "Please," she begged.  
  
"We'll discuss that later," he said, trying to approach her, but she moved away from him again.  
  
"No," she said. "Not later, now," she ordered. "When there's nowhere to run."  
  
"Jen, how can we go from love-making to a fight over a mattress to 'there's nowhere to run'?" he asked softly. "We are behaving like a problematic marriage, as if I was a drunk who beats you up," he said and she shook her head and looked away and cried. "You're running from me!" he said, and tears escaped his eyes with his yell.  
  
"I'm not."  
  
"Yes you are, I'm trying to hug you and you are running from me," he pointed out.  
  
"It's just--" she began.  
  
"Just what?"  
  
"It's just that I'm happy!" she yelled. "I'm happy like this, with this thing on my neck!" she said, pointing at the necklace the brotherhood was using to block her powers. "I'm happy working at home, with my babies, and I'm happy I can make you lunch and dinner and sit in our own dinning room to eat homemade food. I'm happy with the civilian, family life we have right now, and it will go away if we go back to the Force because we won't make it in time for lunch or dinner, we'll leave before Adam and Andrew wake up and come home after they are asleep. They'll be raised by a nanny, and they'll grow up to hate us, or to be strangers to us because we never took time for them."  
  
She swallowed and looked him in the eyes, wanting her next words to sink deeply into his soul. "Or they'll grow up to be sorry they don't remember what we were like, because they were so young when we were killed. And they'll ask everyone what our voices sounded like and they'll ask if we were nice people, and they'll wish they had met us, and they'll wish they could hug us, or that we were there when they graduate or at their first science fair or football game or something."  
  
"That won't be us," he assured her.  
  
"How do you know?" she asked. "You more than anyone should know that we are not untouchable. Remember why this fight started?"  
  
"Because our mattress is too hard."  
  
"Yes, and that's because your back is injured because Ransik almost killed you. And do you remember that sometimes I have problems with my shoulder? Or with my leg? That's because The Mistress broke them. How are we going to take care of our children if we are injured?"  
  
"Fine, we get injured sometimes," he admitted. "But how about all those times we didn't? How about that fight against Gluto? Or the countless fights with Nadira? What about those, Jen? They outbalance the others."  
  
"So we are just going to play Russian roulette for the rest of our lives? See how many times we can fire without getting the bullet in our head?" she asked.  
  
"Not necessarily," he said. "We could change divisions, we could become detectives or special agents." He sighed and then looked up, rubbing his face with his hands and then running them through his untidy hair. "Man! That dripping is really, really pushing the right buttons!"  
  
"Let me think about it," she said. "Some time when water falling into a puddle isn't drilling a hole in my brain!"  
  
"Fine," he said. She approached him shyly, but he welcomed her with open arms. "Sing me something," he said.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"Anything," he said. "Enough to half-cover the water," he said, sitting down with his wife in his arms.  
  
"You smell that?" she asked. The same sweet smell again.  
  
"Yes, I think the task is over," he said.  
  
"Or starting," she suggested.  
  
"Now, about that song..."  
  
"I heard this in an old cassette we got ourselves in the 21st century," she said. "I loved it from the start. And I dedicate it to you."  
  
"I hear you," he said, their faces were close together, because he had her cradled in his arms and she had her head on his shoulder, and one arm around his neck, bringing his head closer to hers.  
  
"And I would do anything for love, I'd run right into hell and back. Oh, I would do anything for love, I'd never lie to you, and that's a fact." She sang a couple more verses before she and her audience fell asleep, the fight forgotten.  
  
The dripping water kept falling mercilessly, but the forms that entered the room and lifted the Drakes didn't mind it at all.  
  
To Be Continued.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- A.N: the song Jen is singing is entitled "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I won't do that)" it's performed by Meat Loaf and belongs to his album "Bat out of Hell II: Back to Hell" 


	10. Capricorn I

Chapter 10: Capricorn I  
  
Silence  
  
It pressed against their ears after hearing the dripping for hours.  
  
They were both hanging from a ceiling they still couldn't see, in a different room, and they knew it was different because the floor was made of metal, instead of marble. They could see its shine, cruel and cold against a white light whose source was unidentified.  
  
They were tied. And not run-of-the-mill tied, they were really tied. The rope felt like it was wrapped all around their bodies.  
  
On the wall right in front of their faces, there was a message left for them:  
  
Darkness falls to light,  
  
Evil is defeated by good.  
  
Beware, our friends, of  
  
acting before thinking,  
  
for every action must exist in you  
  
before it can exist out of you.  
  
Don't think of Fatal, it's of no use,  
  
focus on patience and control,  
  
free your bodies and your souls  
  
achieve your goals and be happy  
  
or after three hours lose it all.  
  
"Three hours," she whispered. Louder, she said, "Alex!"  
  
"I'm up," he answered.  
  
"We just have three hours," she said.  
  
"I noticed," he said. "We don't have time to decipher the whole thing now. We only really need lines from three to seven."  
  
"Three to seven?" she asked  
  
"Yes," he said. "Thinking before acting, that's the most important bit, and not being fatalistic and letting fear, pessimism or despair get to us. That's what happened back in the other room, we let the dripping get to us, and lost ourselves in anger, taking it out against each other."  
  
"So this task is about self-control," she said.  
  
"Yes. It's about self-control." He took a deep breath. "You want me to tell you how to escape, or you already know a way?"  
  
"I know a way. I'll wait until you escape and release me," she said playfully.  
  
"I don't think we'll have time to do that," he said through a smile. "Although I'd love it," he admitted. "Jen, this might be hard for both of us now, but we need to void our minds of all thoughts, all except the planning of our movements. No thinking about the present or the past, or the remote future. Only the close future, what we are going to do next, move by move, before we even start to move a finger."  
  
"Okay," she said.  
  
"Step one," he began in a businesslike voice, "take deep breaths filling all of your lungs, expanding both upper and lower chest, a bit more every time, the rope will give in bit by bit."  
  
"Okay," she repeated.  
  
"Next find a point to look at and focus. There will be no need for talking. Your priority is freeing your hands, however."  
  
"Free my hands," she said in a lost voice.  
  
"Good luck, baby," he said, and he really meant it. "I love you."  
  
"I love you too, honey," she answered, and then silence again.  
  
Jen looked at the marble wall and picked a particularly dark vein in the marble to look at. She had to free her hands, the question was how. The rope, the first thing she had to pay attention to was the rope. She could feel it around her body, and in the same way she had begun practicing her telekinesis she began feeling the rope, tracing its contour with her mind, making it as real as if she was touching it.  
  
The rope wasn't very thick, but it wasn't thin either. It was the kind of rope that burnt with rubbing. She couldn't tell where the end was, but she felt it around both of her hands, that were behind her back. It was also around her neck, and as she breathed she felt it tightened a bit, so she began taking small breaths again; it was a hangman's knot. Then it wrapped around her waist, tightly, the way Alex's arms wrapped around her when he whispered that he loved her . . . but she mustn't think of that. She voided her mind of thought about Alex and returned to the rope. Around her waist, and then around her hips, and then twice, very hard, around her thighs, incredibly strongly around the knees and last around the ankles, its trajectory was lined in her mind. She could barely feel her feet at the moment, but that wasn't important. The hands were.  
  
************************  
  
Alex was looking at a different vein of the marble, a small gray one, barely there. His hands were above his head, he had noticed Jen's were behind her back. But what was it to him if Jen's hands were behind her back? His were above his head, and his shoulders were killing him. He noticed he was having a hard time focusing. The shoulders didn't matter; it was the hands he had to free. He had to plan his moves carefully. The rope came down from the ceiling, wrapped around his wrists, then down to his neck in a hangman's knot. Then it went down across his chest, wrapping twice around it, once very tight around his waist. Once around his narrow hips, twice strongly around his thighs, then it went around his knees and ankles. He noticed the rope went around each of his thighs once, the same with his knees and ankles, and then once around both.  
  
He closed his eyes for a second and opened them again, mentally telling himself off for being unable to focus in that situation. He stared at the wall intently, finally seeing, in his mind, himself, hanging from the ceiling. He could see himself clearly, next to him hung a dark blurry image that was Jen. He ignored it and looked at himself. He was hanging there, not moving. He stopped his deep breathing; he had enough space around his chest now.  
  
They hung there not moving, examples of discipline and self-control. They weren't talking, screaming or moving. Just hanging there, thinking before acting. The Drakes relaxed more and more every second and the more they relaxed, the closer they were to their freedom.  
  
***********************  
  
The image in his mind began to move slowly; the hands going from side to side in small arcs. A very small movement, that didn't seem carefully planned at all. It seemed like he was scratching his wrists with the rope but he didn't want anyone to notice he was itching. Small arcs, so very small he doubted the skin moved, just the bone a bit. He noticed his mental counterpart was sweating lightly. Sweat was good in his position, it served as a lubricant, not that he planned to get out of there without burning himself with the rope.  
  
Jen was still caressing the rope with her mental hand. She wanted to know every bit of the rope, every inch, every twist and every knot. She allowed herself to almost befriend the rope that was tied around her, allowing herself to feel its touch on her skin. She knew the rope would let her go; all she had to do was focus enough and ask it to do so. She was working with the rope in the same way she used to work with the objects she wanted to move with her telekinesis. She befriended the rope, she felt it around her body and compared its grip to that of her husband. She closed her eyes and threw her head back slowly, as if falling into a trance.  
  
Objects had energy. They had their own energy and she had to make that energy work along with her to make the particular object move. The rope had its energy, and Jen respected it, for it was wrapping around her neck. She knew she couldn't just tell the rope to move, she had to tell it exactly what she wanted it to do. [I need space to move my hands a bit,] she said mentally. [If you give me that space, I can do the rest.]  
  
The rope didn't move. [Let me go,] she pleaded mentally. [Please, let me go,] she repeated. In her mind she saw the rope moving, accommodating around her so the wrap around her hands loosened the tiniest of bits. [Good,] she said mentally to the rope. [Now, I need a bit more. Give me a bit more of space, and I'll do the rest.] The rope moved again, and she was able to move her hands in small half-circles, all of this in her mind.  
  
She smiled physically, and mentally restarted the process. It was just like the beginnings of her telekinetic powers, objects wouldn't obey her at once -she had had to earn their trust and respect, as crazy as it may sound. With a deep breath, she once again asked the rope mentally to loosen the wrap around her hands. She only had three hours, but she didn't mind, the rope already was her friend.  
  
***************  
  
Alex had finally achieved a very deep and intense state of concentration. He no longer saw the room he was in. He no longer remembered his wife was hanging next to him. He had forgotten about his sons and his shoulders. He just stared at his mental self's moves, raptly, like a child watching a magic trick.  
  
Mentally he moved his lower arms in half circles, now the hands moved enough for the thumb sides to touch. As the rope got looser and looser, his hand moved more and more, now making three-quarters of a circle. Finally it was time for a different movement. It was time to move his fingers and thumbs, pressing them together and loosening, wriggling them.  
  
He had to free one of his hands by pulling it down. But it was of no use unless there was enough space for it to come out. He studied his position. His feet were barely an inch from the floor. If he stood on the tips of his toes, he could make sure he wouldn't break his neck by freeing his arms. But he needed space for the muscles of his legs if he was going to do that. He tightened his thighs and relaxed them. He kept doing that, always mentally, to see how it turned out. After doing that for minutes he began doing it with his calves. And finally he loosened enough space for him to stand on tip toe, by stretching his waist and hips just a bit, along with his legs. He stood on the tip of the tips of his toes like a ballet dancer.  
  
He took a deep breath and began moving his arms up and down very softly, but fast, in comparison to the rest of his moves. He need the strength speed provided. He kept at it until he felt the loop of rope around the pad of his thumb, and he knew he almost had it. But he didn't smile, or show any emotion. He just kept moving with cold calculation. Finally his right hand was free, and in a deliberate move he inserted two fingers between his neck and the hangman's noose.  
  
His left hand came out freely, and now he just had to figure out how to get free from the noose around his neck. He allowed himself to go one step at a time and began physically repeating the movements he had just made mentally. He noticed he was sweating considerably more than he should, since he hadn't moved other muscles than his heart and lungs.  
  
Jen was focusing. Her telekinetic powers were blocked, but if she focused enough she could get past the barrier, like she had with The Mistress. She focused on the rope, on the rope as a being, as an entity, separated from her body, and kept mentally seeing it move. She felt her mind struggle against its prison and finally escape through a small breach. The rope moved around her wrist, in the same way she had seen it move so many times in her mind. She moved her hands in circles and moved her arms in a piston motion destined to free one of her hands, either of them. Mentally she asked the rope to release a bit more, a bit more. She asked for small bits, very small, because she didn't know how much pressure her neck would take.  
  
She was hot. She was sweating as if she was in a sauna. She was so hot her head hurt.  
  
It had been three hours already. The metallic floor had steadily gone from silver to orange, and was going now from orange to red as heat flowed through it, announcing out loud the Drakes were running on borrowed time.  
  
To be continued. 


	11. Capricorn II

Chapter 11: Capricorn II  
  
His right hand was free. The idea took some time to make it to Alex's brain. He had a terrible headache and was sweating freely. He was incredibly hot. He felt dizzy and weak.  
  
He put his right hand between his neck and the rope, trying to relief some of the pressure around his neck in an attempt to decrease the intensity of his headache, but it didn't work. His arms hurt, the muscles burning against the skin; that was burning against them in turn.  
  
He freed his left hand and dried the sweat from his eyes, opening them finally after having to close them when a drop of sweat fell in one of them. Feeling dizzy, he wanted to vomit. The light in the room had turned a reddish orange, but he couldn't explain to himself why, his brain was working in slow motion.  
  
He felt a hand on his chest and looked down. It was a woman. No, not a woman, it was his wife, Jennifer. She was pressing something against his lips, moving her feet in a funny way, like a marching soldier.  
  
"Drink, baby, I'll help you out," she said, handing him a bottle and moving around him. He felt her tugging at the rope around his neck while he drank from the bottle. The water wasn't cold, but it was fresh, he was thankful for it and expressed his feeling loudly with a hoarse voice.  
  
"How did you escape?" he asked, his brain moving a bit faster now.  
  
"Later," she said simply, releasing his legs from the rope.  
  
He put both feet on the hot floor and understood his wife's funny walking. The floor was red-hot and it burnt his feet.  
  
"This way," Jen said, showing him a small tunnel in the wall that had been behind their backs while they were hanging.  
  
Moving clumsily, they hung onto each other, barely conscious, fatigued and dizzier by the minute. Their muscles were burning, their heads throbbing with migraine, their throats begging for something to drink, other than their hot, thick saliva. They crawled out of the room that was as hot as an oven, into a slightly fresher one, that was sharing the other's hot air.  
  
They vomited before they could hold back. Then they supported themselves against the walls, scared, unable to think and physically hold themselves up. Alex let himself slide down the wall. He wanted to sleep, but a part of his dizzy, clumsy mind told him he couldn't. He had to do something first, but what was it? Right, drinking, he had to drink something. Where could he find something to drink? Where?  
  
Jen was also lying on the floor, away from the puddle of almost clear vomit. She had one of her legs bent, both hands pressing against her abdomen. She had a pained expression that made her husband ask, "Jenny, are you all right?" His voice was so unlike his own, it was a thick, mellow voice that came slowly and tiredly, as if his tongue didn't want to move.  
  
"It's a cramp," she said with the same type of voice.  
  
A red alert light turned on somewhere in the depths of Alex's mind, but he couldn't process. He couldn't process that he and his wife were suffering from heat exhaustion, the headache, the vomiting, the dizziness, the pain in the muscles -called myalgia in medicine- the tiredness and weakness.  
  
Alex took off his clothes, slowly, with small movements, feeling his heartbeat race with the moves, as if he was making a great effort. "Jen, take off your clothes, try to get as comfortable as possible," he instructed, taking deep breaths between syllables, feeling on the verge of death.  
  
Jen was now pressing buttons on her glove. She summoned the medicine kit Alex's father had included, and tried to find some serum, used to hydrate patients. She found a bottle and opened it, drinking it in small sips. She put the cap on the bottle and crawled towards Alex, who was about a foot from her.  
  
"Here." She offered what was left of the serum, and helped him summon one of his own. She found alcohol in his first aid kit and applied some on his skin, on his neck and face.  
  
Her hair was plastered against her neck and face with the sweat and her eyes were closing. "Drink," Alex said, offering the bottle back. She drank thirstily and he helped her get rid of her own clothes, trying to refresh her. He put alcohol on her back, and when both bottles of serum were gone, they both allowed themselves to collapse on the floor, wearing only their underwear, their skin red and their hearts racing, despite their resting position.  
  
They had been on the verge of dying, and they weren't out of peril yet, but now that they were asleep, the figures could walk into the room and give them the medical attention they needed.  
  
"Bravery beyond everything I've seen in my life," one whispered, looking at them.  
  
"Not bravery," answered another, more feminine. "Love; this is just love."  
  
************************************  
  
This time Jen woke up first. She barely remembered how she had freed herself from the rope, but remembered using her telekinetic powers somehow. She felt better, but her head still hurt a bit. She was no longer dizzy and felt fresher. Then she tried to move her right arm, and noticed the needle in the inner side of her elbow.  
  
She was being injected with electrolytic and saline solution, to help her with the dehydration she had been suffering from. This time, it was her left hand that had been bandaged, and the bandage on her right hand had been changed for a smaller one. She looked to the side and saw Alex still asleep. He was being injected too, she was glad to notice.  
  
She looked at the ceiling, trying to figure out their enemy. "They are trying to kill us," she whispered. "They take us as close as they can to death, and if we escape, they help us back to the side of the living." Her eyes began to close with tiredness. "Why not just leave us to death now? We were barely alive, why help us?" she wondered drowsily. And right before she fell asleep, the answer hit her. [Because they want us to make it through. They want us to win.]  
  
********************************  
  
The tattoo was brown, and was placed below his thumb, near the wrist, right on the small mound. It hurt a bit but it wasn't too bad. He was sitting on the floor, feeling next to fully recovered, now that saline and electrolytic solution had been injected in his body in sufficient amounts. Jen was sitting next to him.  
  
"How did you escape?" he asked Jen, she was looking at him, smiling.  
  
"I reached a level of concentration so deep I was able to get by the barrier they had on my powers," she said.  
  
"So you cheated?" he asked.  
  
"Technically," she admitted with a smile. "I was able to use and control my telekinetic power, but not for long. After my hands were free, I lost some focus and lost the gate. It would have taken me way too long to reach it again, so I fell back on what I had learned at Time Force academy."  
  
"I had some problems focusing," he admitted. "It felt really bad," he whispered, looking down at his tattoo.  
  
"Aw, poor baby," she mocked.  
  
"I mean it," he said.  
  
"How did you plan to escape?" she asked.  
  
"I freed my hands, but after that.I had no idea of what I was going to do."  
  
"Good thing I did," she said. "Or we would both be dead."  
  
"I can't be the one who gets it right all the time," he said. "We are a team, a good team, and we work well together."  
  
"For the common good," she said, holding out her hand. He looked sad. "It really affected you, having a hard time focusing?"  
  
"More than I care to admit, yes." He sighed heavily. "They could have let us die this time," he said while he put the bandages back.  
  
"They want us to win," Jen said, her gaze lost. A band-aid was covering the place where the needle had been in the inner part of her elbow.  
  
"Well, if they want us to win, the tasks should be easier," he commented, reaching for the basket the brotherhood had left, with food and drinks as they usually did after each task.  
  
"No kidding," Jen said with a chuckle, receiving thankfully the piece of bread her husband was offering.  
  
"Hey," Alex said. "There's a letter," he announced, pulling it out of the basket.  
  
"Read it," she said.  
  
"Well," he took a deep breath. "The fourth labor of Heracles was to capture the Ceryneian Hind. He did so, by showing the best traits of the people born with the sun in Capricorn: he was disciplined, patient and careful as he followed the hind through Greece and into Thrace, never daunted by the long chase. He was ambitious and practical, when he discovered he had to disable the animal somehow in order to capture it. He showed these traits again by firing one of his arrows, after removing the poison from the tip, into the hind's leg, making it much easier to catch. After he caught it, he wounded her leg, in order to preserve her life. Last, he was prudent enough to act humble in front of Artemis, owner of the hind, and explained to her why was he taking her property to king Eurystheus palace.  
  
"Your task was imposed on you in order to prove you had these traits, and you could also face and diminish the bad traits brought by Capricorn: Fatalism, pessimism, misery and grudgingness.  
  
"Now, be careful not to get lost, for it represents danger for the protégées of Hermes. You might want to search for the Dioscuri. Until next time," Alex finished, reading the last line with a fake cheerful tone.  
  
"Dioscuri?" Jen asked.  
  
"Castor and Pollux," he said. "Next task is Gemini."  
  
To be continued. 


	12. Dioscuri

Chapter 12: Dioscuri  
  
"Do you remember which one of Heracles' tasks matched Gemini?" Alex asked.  
  
"No, but the letter said something about the protégées of Hermes; if I remember correctly, he was the god of the land travelers," Jen said. "But my train of thought stops there, I can't think of anything else."  
  
They were walking down a corridor that seemed endless. It was dimly lit, like all the places they had been lately, and was also underground. They had gotten out of the small room where they had been treated and had found themselves in that corridor, so they had followed it.  
  
Despite the brotherhood's recommendation of investigating the Dioscuri, they hadn't done it, and had set out walking, trying not to waste too much time, because they were missing their children's first month of life, if not more, considering they had lost their sense of space and time.  
  
"Perhaps we should investigate that deeper," Alex suggested, stopping to summon Buda from his officer glove.  
  
"Yes?" the mouse asked in an obliging attitude.  
  
"Can you run research on Hermes for us?" Alex asked.  
  
"Sure." Alex held the robotic mouse in one hand and kept walking.  
  
"Hermes -or Mercury as the Romans called him- was the herald of the Olympian gods. He was the god of shepherds, land travel, merchants, weight and measures, oratory, literature, athletics and thieves, and known for his cunning and shrewdness, but most importantly he was the messenger of the gods. He was also a minor patron of poetry. Festivals in his honor were called Hermoea. According to several legends, he was the one who invented the lyre, the pan-pipes and is also accredited for the flute. In these versions, Hermes exchanged the lyre for part of Apollo's herd, and Apollo became very known for that instrument. Also, Hermes exchanged his flute for Apollo's golden shaft which Hermes later used as his herald's shaft. In other versions it was Zeus who gave him his shaft.  
  
"As the herald of the gods it was his job to lead the souls to the underworld, and he was closely connected with bringing dreams to the mortals. The Greek name for his shaft is 'Kerykeion' and in Latin it's called 'Caduceus' and it's often shown as a staff with two white ribbons, although later they were changed to two serpents intertwined in the shape of an eight, and the shaft often had wings attached. Other symbols of Hermes, besides his famous winged sandals, were the tortoise, the cock and the purse or pouch.  
  
"Hermes was believed to have three children: Pan, Abderus and Hermaphroditus. Pan was half man half goat, was the patron of fields, woods, shepherds and flocks. Abderus was killed by the mares of Diomedes after Heracles left him in charge of the terrible beasts--"  
  
"Hold it!" Jen called, holding her hand up. "Say the last bit again."  
  
"Abderus was killed by the Mares of Diomedes after Heracles left him in charge of the terrible beasts," the mouse repeated.  
  
"The Mares of Diomedes," Alex said. "Search that one for us, please," he asked.  
  
"In a sec," the mouse said. A few minutes passed, during which Alex and Jen walked ahead silently. "It was the eighth labor," the mouse began. "Heracles was ordered to capture and bring back the mares of Diomedes, a Thracian chief, who according to some sources was actually the king of Thrace. Diomedes kept four savage mares and he fed them the flesh of unsuspecting strangers and lost travelers. These mares were tethered by chains to a bronze manger.  
  
"When he arrived at the palace, Heracles took the king prisoner and, knowing how cruel he had been, took him to the manger and fed him to his mares, which then became calm and subdued. Then Heracles took them back to king Eurystheus who dedicated them to Hera and set them loose in Argos."  
  
"That doesn't match what you said earlier, about Abderus being eaten by the mares," Jen pointed out.  
  
"I was getting there. There is another version of this myth. In the other version, Heracles took a group of volunteers with him. Abderus was among them, and Heracles made him his companion because he liked him a lot. The group captured the mares and fled because they were being pursued by the king Diomedes and his troops. When these troops finally caught up with the band that was with Heracles, the hero left Abderus in charge of the mares and went to fight the enemy off. But since Abderus lacked the strength and experience Heracles had, he was devoured by the savage beasts. When Heracles came back and found the remains of his friends, he became very angry, so he fed Diomedes to the mares, which became very calmed. Heracles gave Abderus a worthy burial and then founded the city of Abdera next to his tomb," the robot finished.  
  
"Okay, so far so good. But how is all of this related to the sign Gemini? I don't see the relation, you haven't mentioned a single thing about twins," Jen commented.  
  
"The Dioscuri, that's Castor and Pollux, the symbol of the sign Gemini, were brothers to Helen, the cause of the Trojan war. Castor was very good at managing and taming horses, while Pollux was famous for his skills in boxing. Do you get the connection now?" Alex asked.  
  
"The horses and the mares, I get that." She remained silent for a few minutes, thinking. "And Hermes invented boxing!"  
  
"That's right, and remember what the letter said; 'be careful not to get lost'--"  
  
"The mares ate lost travelers, the protégées of Hermes."  
  
"Castor and Pollux were inseparable, and were united by the warmest affection. They were part of the Argonautic expedition. After the expedition, they were involved in a war, that resulted in the death of Castor. Pollux was inconsolable after the death of his brother, so Zeus, their father, granted Pollux eternal life. However, Pollux asked if he could share his gift with his brother, and Zeus agreed. In consequence, they spend one day as gods in Mt. Olympus, and one day in the Underworld as dead mortals," said Buda, who had researched the twins for them. "And, listen, there is a version of the myth that says Zeus rewarded the Twins closeness by placing them among the stars as Gemini, the twins."  
  
"Thanks Buda," Alex said. The mouse returned to his dimensional pouch. "That's about everything we need to know."  
  
"Let's eat, I'm hungry," Jen said, sitting down on the floor. Her shoulders were a little slumped, and her face was sad.  
  
"Jen, are you okay?" Alex asked.  
  
"I miss my family," she said simply, not looking at him.  
  
"Your family?" he asked.  
  
"Yes. I miss Adam and Andrew, and Katie, Trip and Lucas, and Dad," she said. "I miss you," she said after a few moments of hesitation.  
  
"Me?" he asked. "Baby, I'm right here, for everything you want," he assured her, moving closer to her.  
  
"It's not the same having you here, loving me and caring for me in this way, as having you loving me and caring for me at home, in a different way." She was still avoiding looking at him.  
  
"I'm not following," he admitted.  
  
"I just don't like having you caring for me because if you don't I might die," she said at last, looking at him.  
  
"Jen," he began, taking a deep breath. "The situation is different."  
  
"I know. I guess that's what I miss, the old situation," she said, shrugging and summoning something to eat.  
  
Alex took her hand, interrupting her. "It will be the way it was before," he promised. "No matter what the cost, it will be the way it was before."  
  
"I know," she said, giving him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "It will be the way it was before, because we are going back to the Force."  
  
He looked at her, his eyes wide. "Are you serious?"  
  
"Yes," she said. "It's about taking and giving. I wanted to quit and you gave; now you want to go back, it's my turn to give. So I'm giving." She swallowed hard and looked at him with a small smile, waiting for his reaction.  
  
"Jen," Alex began not knowing what to say. He caressed her cheek and saw her smile grow. "Thank you," he heard himself say as he smiled back.  
  
The conversation didn't die, but took a different direction from there, as they continued to discuss and connect the three corners of the triangle formed by Hermes, the Dioscuri and the Mares of Diomedes. They researched Diomedes and discovered that he had also taken part in the Trojan War, among other interesting data, such as his victory over the Greek god of war, Ares. The last connection the made was between Mercury, the planet that rules Gemini, and Mercury, the roman counterpart of Hermes.  
  
They walked down their dimly lit corridor until they reached what seemed to be a gate.  
  
It was made of iron and was gigantic, covered in flourishes and Greek-like decorations that were made of gold that shone against the almost black iron of the gate. In front of them, about 25 feet ahead and illuminated by a light that seemed to have no origin, there was a manger, and tied to it were four savage yet frozen mares, statues of the Mares of Diomedes.  
  
"We have to get to them," Alex said, opening the gate. He walked forward, not taking his eyes off the mares. He suddenly felt Jen's hand on his arm stopping him and pulling him back. He turned and could have sworn he saw the gem of Jen's necklace, the one that blocked away her powers, glow slightly. But he shook away the thought.  
  
"What is it?" he asked.  
  
Suddenly all around them, a bright white light appeared, making them close their eyes for a few seconds until they got used to it. "The floor," Jen said hoarsely. "Look at the floor," she instructed.  
  
He looked down and found himself swallowing hard. If he had taken the next step he would have met a horrible death. The floor was nothing but a series of marble paths about four feet wide, suspended at god-knew what height, and creating a maze around the mares and their manger.  
  
To be continued. 


	13. Light or Wrong

Chapter 13: Light or wrong.  
  
Jen continued to look at the statues of the mares for a few moments more, until she noticed Alex fumbling with a rope. The intensity of the lights was less disturbing after a few minutes, and their brains had begun working on possible ways to get to the mares. Jen looked at Alex, surprised to see him wrap the climbing rope around her waist and secure it with a knot.  
  
"Alex, what are you doing?" she asked when he began wrapping the other end of the rope around his own waist and securing it.  
  
"I'm tying us up," he said simply.  
  
"What for?" she asked. "Alex, this is even more dangerous, if I fall I could drag you down with me."  
  
"You're not going to fall," he snapped, looking at her straight in the eyes. "And even if you do, I'll try to save us both. If I can't, then we both go down."  
  
"What?!" she exclaimed. "Alex, are you out of your mind?"  
  
"No," he said. "I'm in love with my wife. It's both of us in this, Jen; we are the Dioscuri now, the Gemini. There is no middle point, we come as a pair. If we fall down, we both fall. If we make it, we both make it, like Castor and Pollux," he said, holding her hand.  
  
"This is insane," she whispered. He looked at her as if he was going to reply and she continued, putting her hand on his shoulder. "But I understand. Besides, it does make me feel safer."  
  
He nodded silently. When he finished making the knots, he asked, "Is it okay if I go ahead?"  
  
"Yes," she said simply.  
  
"Fine," he said, checking the knots one more time. "If you see any changes, and I mean ANY, stop in your tracks that very second, you hear me?"  
  
"Yes," she said, the same expression and tone she used when they worked in Time Force, and he had to treat her like another subordinate, and not his wife. He was giving her instructions, and she was taking them, robotically, without objections. The way she had learned to do it.  
  
The maze, they discovered, was a little complicated. The different paths were separated enough to make a jump between them scary and to make trying to see more than a couple feet ahead really difficult and tricky. Planning their path before taking it seemed almost impossible, and having to go back and try a different path whenever they went through a wrong one was bound to tire them too much, mentally and physically. Alex thought about summoning a compass but since he didn't know in which direction the manger was, he discarded the idea as he thought it useless.  
  
"Are you ready?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, I'm ready."  
  
They began walking, slowly, Jen right behind Alex. He looked back for a second at Jen, who smiled encouragingly. Alex led them through the only path there was, looking intently at the floor. The lights were so bright now they looked solid. Alex walked slowly, step by step, followed by Jen, who kept a prudently secure distance.  
  
They took a path that went left, walked through it for a couple of yards, and then took one to the right. They walked calmly, keeping up a light conversation, and drinking water every now and then, when they stopped for breath.  
  
Several times they found themselves completely isolated, when the path suddenly ended. Vertigo always hit them worse in those moments, but they remained calm and controlled. Alex had begun shaking whenever they met one of those dead ends, and Jen was secretly worried.  
  
Alex stopped again, and sighed angrily as his hands shook visibly, his eyes closed for a second. "Damn it!" he cursed. "Wrong path again."  
  
"We'll go through a different one," Jen said, putting a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"I can't believe it's taking us so long," he said and he wrapped his arms around her, looking for security and comfort.  
  
"Alex, we are not machines, and we are not perfect," she said soothingly as she hugged him tightly. "It may take us time, but we'll make it, you'll see," she assured him, caressing his hair.  
  
"What if we can't? What if we're stuck in this labyrinth forever?" he asked loudly. Jen let go of him, looked at him for a few seconds and then slapped him as hard as she could.  
  
"Come back to your senses Alexander, if you would," she said simply. "Why are you acting like this? Since when are you the fatalistic one?!"  
  
He stood there silent. "I- I don't know," he said softly. She noticed his cheek was red where she had slapped him, at least what she could see under the beard he had grown lately. "it's just.it's stressful, running into those dead ends, especially because you can't see them coming, sometimes I think the path keeps going, and it turns out to be a trick of the lights," he explained.  
  
"Come on, we have to keep going," she said sweetly. "We have to get out of this labyrinth."  
  
"Okay," he said.  
  
They kept moving across the labyrinth for what seemed to be hours, and the mares didn't seem to get any nearer. Unbelievably, they made a turn around the statues, and returned to the Iron Gate where they had begun. "What?!" Alex exclaimed angrily. "How did we get back here?!"  
  
Jen was stunned. She didn't say anything, she just stared at the gate, anger building inside of her making her feel like a pressure cooker. She screamed. Screamed at the top of her lungs with anger and impotence and fear. It was an almost inhuman scream that echoed through the room wildly.  
  
To his surprise, Alex found himself joining her. They both stopped screaming and began gasping for air, tears of impotence and anger running down their cheeks. They leaned against the Iron Gate, where there was a piece where the floor was wider.  
  
"Now what?" Alex asked, his voice slightly hoarse from his screaming.  
  
"I don't know," she admitted. "I'm hungry and I'm tired. We spent the whole day on this. Let's get some sleep and some food, and tomorrow we'll see. This task doesn't seem like it has a deadline."  
  
"Okay," he agreed.  
  
The next morning, Alex woke up and found a piece of paper in his lap. It was neatly folded, and resembled all the other letters they had gotten from the brotherhood. This one was very simple:  
  
Sometimes the obvious choice is the wrong one. Light is not always the answer.  
  
He read it a couple of times and then sat there, looking at the brightly lit room, his fingers playing absently with the piece of paper. "Sometimes the obvious choice is the wrong one; light is not always the answer. Light is not always the answer." He repeated the phrase several times in barely audible whispers. "Light is not always the answer." He found himself getting more and more lost in his thoughts, and falling into a deep trance, unaware of his surroundings.  
  
Jen stirred next to him, and yawned widely as she stretched her arms. She sighed and looked at him. "Good morning, baby," she said sweetly, kissing him on the cheek. He didn't seem to notice, lost in his thoughts, repeating a phrase under his breath. "Alex?" she asked, he seemed to be in a trance. She noticed his fingers playing with something, and took it from him. He didn't notice. She read the note twice and then looked up at him. Light is not always the answer. That was what Alex was muttering hypnotically. She put a hand on his shoulder and shook him, but he didn't even blink.  
  
"Light is not always the answer," he kept saying. Jen, for some reason, knew she shouldn't interrupt his thinking, so she sat there next to him, and summoned some fruit from her dimensional pocket. She also summoned Tao, her own robotic mouse.  
  
"What can I do for you?" the mouse asked.  
  
"Do you still have the files from the house here?" she asked.  
  
"Some of them," Tao said. "Which ones do you want to see?"  
  
"Do you have the pictures of the babies we took?" she asked sadly.  
  
"Give me a sec," he pleaded. While he searched in his files, Jen looked at Alex, who was still in his trance; a tear ran down her cheek, and she noticed for the first time since they had begun these tasks, she hadn't spilled any milk, as if she had stopped producing it. She put her hands on her breasts and felt more tears escaping her eyes, and a knot in her throat as she remembered the wonderful days she had spent while she was pregnant, and the first few days of her children. She remembered how wonderful and warm she had felt the first time she had breastfed them. She sniffed as Tao looked up. A small holographic screen came out, projected from his eyes, and the first pictures of her babies were displayed in front of her.  
  
"How are you two doing?" she asked the pictures, moving a hand to touch them, causing the screen to distort. She removed her hand. "Do you miss us, Mommy and Daddy? How long has it been since you last saw us? How much have you grown up? Do your eyes have their true color now? Have you grown hair?" She asked aloud what she wanted to know, but the pictures couldn't tell her anything she didn't know already. "I miss you boys so much," she whispered. Sniffling and sobbing, she ate her apple. "I wish you could print that picture for me," she told the robot.  
  
"I can, my printer was packed," he said simply. She looked at him, her eyes gleaming.  
  
"Please, do it," she said.  
  
A few minutes later, she had a picture of her babies in her hand, printed in high resolution. "Thank you, Tao," she said. "Do you have the pictures from our wedding?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I want to print one please," she said. She chose one taken right when she and Alex were leaving for their honeymoon, so they weren't in their wedding outfits, but in more comfortable ones. They were hugging each other, smiling brightly. She summoned a pen, and wrote on the back: "Please, give this picture to our children if something happens to us."  
  
Underneath that, she wrote: "Adam & Andrew, We miss you so much. We love you dearly and keep you in our hearts all the time. We never abandoned you, don't ever think we didn't love you, because you were the best things to happen in our lives. Take good care of each other, and always remember us with love. Take good care, our children, we love you so very much, we wish we could kiss you right now. Good-bye and thank you for being born and coming to our lives." And she signed that: "Mom, Jennifer Ann Scotts-Drake, and Dad, Alexander James Drake." She added the date she calculated it must have been and their ranks in Time Force. She wanted to explain the situation better, but feared the brotherhood wouldn't give the picture to Adam and Andrew if she wrote they had been kidnapped and their parents had been forced to go through the most dangerous tasks imaginable until they had finally died. She shuddered at the last thought, but accepted it as a possibility.  
  
She held both pictures in her hands and laid her head in Alex's lap, he seemed to have fallen asleep again, at least his eyes were closed now, and he had stopped muttering. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, finally laying both pictures on her stomach, and throwing one of her arms over her eyes, trying to block out as much light as possible. Could it be that light was not always the answer? And could that mean they weren't supposed to make it through? Could it be better for their children if they died during these tasks?  
  
To be continued. 


	14. Hanging on

Chapter 14: Hanging on.  
  
Alex woke up with a start. He had fallen asleep while pondering the riddle the brotherhood had given them. Sometimes the obvious choice is the wrong one. Light is not always the answer. He felt the weight of Jen's head on his lap, and was unhappy to notice he had woken her. "Sorry, baby," he said softly, caressing her hair.  
  
"You need to shave," she said, barely awake, when he kissed her hand.  
  
"I wish I could," he said simply. He saw a piece of paper on her abdomen and picked it up. "What's this?" he asked playfully.  
  
"A picture of the twins I printed, and one of us," she said, her eyes still closed.  
  
"There's just one," he said sweetly and lowered his gaze to the picture. He gaped at it open-mouthed. "Jen, how did you do this?" he asked harshly.  
  
"Do what?" she asked back, sounded hurt.  
  
"This," he said thrusting the picture under her nose. She took it from his hand and focused her sight on it.  
  
"Oh, my God," she whispered. It wasn't the picture she had printed of the babies. In the one she was holding, she was lying face up, with her head in Alex's lap, the way she had been sleeping, and the babies were curled on her chest, each on one side. The babies in the picture were bigger than her newborns and had more hair on their heads, but she knew, for sure, they were her children. She looked at Alex amazed for a second and then looked around, searching for the picture of them she had printed. It was nowhere to be found. "They took the other picture," she whispered.  
  
"What other picture?" he asked.  
  
"I printed a picture of us and wrote a message for the babies on the back, I asked the brotherhood to give it to them if anything happened to us, and they took it," she explained. She looked at the picture in her hand again and then at her husband. "How could I have held my babies without knowing? They were here; they brought them, and put them on my chest! And I didn't feel it!"  
  
"They probably drugged us, it's their favorite thing to do."  
  
"I wonder how many other times the babies have been in our arms while we sleep," she said, a tear running down her cheek.  
  
"Hey," he whispered softly, drying her tears. "You're missing the point," he took the picture from her hand and pointed at the babies curled on her chest. "They look healthy, about two weeks older, maybe more, they've grown hair, brown like yours, too bad we can't see their eyes, but I'm willing to bet they are caramel eyes, like yours," he had wrapped his arms around her shoulders, holding the picture in front of her face, his cheek pressed against the side of her head.  
  
"I think they have your eyes," she said softly, moving her face to the side, trying to look at him. "Gorgeous blue eyes."  
  
"One and one?" he suggested. She giggled.  
  
"I wish the picture was taken from a closer point, and I wish they had been awake," she complained. "But I'm grateful they gave us this, at least."  
  
Alex pressed his lips against his wife's for a couple of seconds and they held to each other for a few minutes, looking at the only news of their children they had received since their newest odyssey had begun. After a few minutes, Alex kissed Jen's temple and said, "We should eat; we have a riddle and a labyrinth to get through."  
  
"Yes," she said distractedly. While he summoned and prepared some food from his dimensional pocket, she asked, "What do you think they meant by 'light is not always the answer'? Perhaps that it's better for them if we fail? For Adam and Andrew, I mean," she said.  
  
Alex looked at her and took her hand. "Nothing, and hear me well, nothing can be better for Adam and Andrew than growing up with their parents, whether we spend all day long with them or we barely see them, they are our children, and nothing they can provide will be better for them than our unconditional love. We went through a lot of troubles to have them, nobody has the right to say we can't keep them, nobody can love them and care for them better than you and me, is that clear?"  
  
"Yes," she said decidedly, giving him a smile. "So about that riddle, what do you think it means?"  
  
"The first part I got, we are not supposed to take the paths to get to the mares, because that's the obvious choice, and they said that the obvious choice is not always right," he said.  
  
"What about the part about the light?" she said, looking towards the statues of the Mares of Diomedes, that stood away from them, almost making fun of them.  
  
"It still haunts me," he admitted. "Yesterday I thought I was getting somewhere, but it's stupid. If light is not the answer, then darkness is," he said. "But how can we make this room dark? It's not like there's a switch to turn off the lights."  
  
"There has got to be a way." She bit her lips thoughtfully for a second and then looked at him, smiling. "There's no switch to turn off the sun," she began. "But we can still protect our eyes from its light, making everything around us dark when we walk down the street."  
  
"Sunglasses!" he said, smiling happily. "Our Time Force scanners! They block all the light and only show the readings!" He pressed his fingers against the back of his ear, summoning his scanner. Jen had done the same with hers.  
  
They looked around the room, which was dark now. They couldn't see anything. "Scan for more marble, perhaps there's a path to go down and back up," he suggested.  
  
She nodded and adjusted her scanner. Nothing but the thin paths they had walked the day before. "Let's try to search for metal," she suggested.  
  
"Okay," he said. They adjusted their scanners and after barely seconds they both yelled happily. "Jen, do you see them?"  
  
"YES!" she said happily. "I can't believe it!"  
  
Between the paths, in a straight line from where they were to the where the Mares were, hung a pair of wires -one over the other-making some sort of bridge. It required an awful lot of cold blood to go through it, but it was doable, the wires seemed to be at enough height to put the feet on one and grab the other with the hands.  
  
"They probably thought the first thing we would do was protect our eyes from the bright lights," he began. "But we are stubborn, so we walked around risking snow-blindness."  
  
"So we missed the real path to the mares," she said. But the happiness of finding the real path to their goal was wearing off, and was giving its place to trepidation. "Alex, how are we supposed to get down there? How are we supposed to cross that thing?"  
  
"I'm thinking," he said nervously. "We can use our climbing equipment to go down and to tie ourselves to the wires or whatever those things are. We have to go slow, and not look down, but I think we can manage to do it, if we trust ourselves, and each other."  
  
She looked down at the bridge of wires and then up at his face. After a few seconds a smile spread across her face. "What are we waiting for?" she asked.  
  
They got to work. Summoned their equipment and set it up. They put on a pair of protection gloves and set up the ropes. Still wearing their sunglasses, they double-checked everything and gave each other one last kiss, open-mouthed.  
  
"I love you," he said.  
  
"And I love you."  
  
"Are you ready?"  
  
"As I'll ever be, you?" she asked with a smile.  
  
"Couldn't be any readier."  
  
They began their descent, it was only about eight feet deep until they reached the lower wire, but the pit kept going for much longer distance. Alex was going down on one side of the bridge, and Jen on the other. They had tied a rope around them the same way they had tied it the day before, and were going to use each other as a counterbalance.  
  
They reached the lower wire and detached themselves from the descender they had used. From that point of view, they could see the wires were more like long smooth bars of a very shiny metal; burnished steel. The bars were suspended from a metallic construction that was held underneath the marble path, that was what kept them floating around in the floor-less room. The bars went from each of these constructions to the next, which meant they didn't need to go back up, like they had originally thought.  
  
"Burnished steel," Alex said when he secured himself to the bar.  
  
"It reflects all the bright light around it, and disappears from sight. It's brilliant," she admired.  
  
"It is," he admitted. They began moving to one side, feeling safe, despite the unsafe surroundings. They had taken all the preventive measures they could, and the strength of the bars added up to that sense of security. If they had been walking on wires, as they had originally thought, they would be feeling a lot more vulnerable.  
  
They moved slowly towards the mares, their muscles tense, their minds focused. After the first ten feet, they began to feel their muscles wearing down from the work, however they kept going, the muscles in their arms and legs burning now after all the work.  
  
Alex stopped for a second to rest, and that's when it happened. His feet slipped from the lower bar and he fell with a small cry of surprise, followed by the sound of his skull hitting the highest bar. His body hung limply after he lost his consciousness, leaving his wife alone to hold on for both of them.  
  
And for their children.  
  
To be continued. 


	15. No Fear, No Doubt

Chapter 15: No fear, no doubt.

"Alex!" Jen screamed, scared, when she suddenly felt all his weight hanging from her waist. "Alex, are you okay?" she asked. But she knew the answer the moment she turned to see him. He was unconscious, his head dropped forward onto his chest. 

"Oh, God!" Jen cried when she saw him. He had probably slipped, and now she was all alone. Alex was no longer by her side, covering her back. She was the one holding on for both of them. She swallowed hard. She had never been the one in charge when Alex was around. He had always been the one with the orders, with the solutions. She was an intelligent, well-trained officer most of the time, but when she was with Alex, even if he was unconscious as he was at this moment, she always felt small and untrained. Deep down, she had never stopped being Alex's protégée. 

And now, it was probably the first time since they'd known each other that they were together, but the situation was in her hands. Make that literally 'in her hands'. In her tired, sweaty, slippery hands. She began sobbing, scared. "We're going to die," she whispered, terrified. 

Her mind was instantly filled with horrible images of their friends, finding their smashed bodies on the shores. She could clearly see Katie and Trip, holding each other and crying. She could see Lucas holding back, to proud to cry in public. She could see their fathers; Alex's with a proud stance but with pain-filled eyes; and her father, losing all composure, for he had always been a very intense man, on his knees, crying over her dead body. She could also see Captain Logan, whispering, "I told them to have another child. Now they've lost not only their children but their lives, and we have lost them, forever."

She could see this brotherhood, all hooded figures, training her children in the arts of the occult, and for some reason; she imagined her beautiful twins growing up filled with evil, anger and hate, to be terrorists, to be the villains. She could see two young, handsome men, who looked a bit more like Alex than herself, armed to the teeth, putting bombs in Time Force headquarters and killing thousands of innocent people, turning out to be like their grandmother, instead of like their father. Growing up in darkness, fear and hate, instead of love, safety and happiness, to be the villains instead of the heroes. 

"No!" she said. I won't let these people keep my children!" Then she looked at Alex and his voice whispered softly in her ear. _"It's both of us in this, Jen; we are the Dioscuri now, the Gemini. There is no middle point, we come as a pair. If we fall down, we both fall. If we make it, we both make it, like Castor and Pollux,"_ the words he had told her while he tied the rope around their waists. 

Then, her owns words, said so long ago, and so meaninglessly, came back to bite her. _"The day I start thinking about my marriage in terms of 'him and me' instead of 'us', I'll know I have stopped loving my husband."_

"They are not just *my* children," she whispered, embarrassed, as memories of Alex going through all the treatments and the pregnancy with her flooded her mind. He had resigned from Time Force with her. He had cried with her when the first few tries had failed. He had spent all night awake, watching over her, taking care of her retching, and her fever, for the first few days of the treatment. They had jumped up and down on the bed together when they found out about the pregnancy. They had bought the babies' things together, hand in hand, and sharing the expenses. He had given her massages, and had brushed her hair when she had felt tired or ugly. 

She remember laughing at his reaction when she had told him the babies were coming. He had started running around like a rabbit on caffeine, as if the babies were going to pop out of her at that very second. He had dried her tears and her sweat, taken her insults and her biting; because she had bitten his hand not entirely accidentally, while she was giving birth. 

Why had she claimed them as her own, when Alex had shared with her as many things during the pregnancy as he could? Why had she claimed the children as her own, when Alex loved them, cared for them and wanted them back as much as she did?

"I won't let these people keep *our* children," she corrected herself. "Because I know you wouldn't," she told Alex's body. But it was too late. The doubt had been planted in her mind. Had she stopped loving her husband? Was that the reason she had claimed her children as her own? If she had stopped loving him, if she felt deep inside of her that he wasn't her other half anymore, could she just cut the rope and let him fall and then try to get to her babies by herself? 

She had just done it again; she had claimed the children as her own. She looked down at Alex and imagined herself cutting the rope and watching Alex's body fall, right before her eyes. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see herself doing anything but jumping after him. She couldn't see herself moving on, not with the tasks and not with her life. If she let Alex fall, or even if he fell down, she would feel half of herself falling down, and she would die too. 

She needed Alex, she loved him, there was no doubt about it. A few days before, they had made love, and she had told him how much she loved him and how happy she was they were together. Why was she thinking that she had stopped loving him now?

It was the brotherhood. They were the ones doing this to them, breaking them apart. They wanted them to fail and die so they could keep their children. "This is not fair!" she yelled, but not at him. At the room, believing the brotherhood could hear her, which wasn't all that wrong.

 "This is not right! We love our children, and we love each other! How is this supposed to prove we can take care of our children? How is hanging from a bar at god-knows what height supposed to make us better parents?" She took a deep breath, and tears fell freely from her eyes. 

"I know what you want," she said. "You want me to give up holding on for both of us," she said. "You want me to cut this rope and let him fall; you want me to abandon my husband and my children, but I won't do it," she said. "He would never give up on me, and I will never give up on him, even if I tear my muscles apart I'll hang on, until he wakes up. I'm not letting go," she announced fiercely. "We are not going to fail, because we have never failed anything we've tried together." She then lowered her face, tears no longer falling from her eyes.

But it was easier said than done. Her arms and legs were burning with pain as she was forced to hold more weight than they could carry for far longer than they could resist. She took deep breaths, trying to ignore her exhaustion while she thought of a way to get out of this mess. "Okay, Jennifer, think," she told herself. "If I let go, Alex will probably drag me down with his weight. So I can't do anything, because I can't use my hands," she concluded. For a few minutes she just held tight, feeling Alex's weight strain her little body. "There's has got to be another way." She closed her eyes, trying to focus. 

She needed to find a way to hold on to the bars, to present some resistance to Alex's weight, while she summoned the ammonium from her first aid kit. She couldn't use her hands, so perhaps, she could use her legs. It came to her as clearly as if someone had whispered it in her ear. It was a long shot, but she could try. She let herself down, using her arms, pulling Alex's weight a bit. She sat on the lower bar and then pushed herself back, until she was hanging head down, from her knees, like an acrobat.

Thinking rapidly, she took a rope from her pocket and wrapped it around her own waist, over the one that was holding Alex. Using her last strength, she pulled herself to a sitting position again and then threw the rope over the higher bar. She tied the rope then to the lower bar, making a resistant place to hold on to. She wrapped one arm around the rope and then took Alex's gloved hand and summoned his last rope. Wrapped it around his waist the best she could and tied him up to the bar the same way she was.  When she was sure they were both completely secured, she cut the rope between them. She breathed heavily, when the weight of Alex's body was taken from her back. She took her first aid kit and looked for something to wake Alex up.

She approached him and put the piece of cotton she had soaked in ammonium near his nose. He stirred slowly. Then grimaced. He had a bruise on his forehead. "What?" he choked in a whisper. 

"How are you?" she asked softly. 

"Where?" he said simply.

"Hanging from a bar, remember?" she said. "We were crossing this so-called bridge, to get to the mares."

His blue eyes opened and he looked at her with a funny expression on his face. "What are you talking about?" he said. She opened her mouth to talk, but he cut her short. "Scratch that. Who are you?"

"Oh, God," she whispered, mortified. He pulled himself up, and put both feet on the lower bar, grasping the highest with his hands. She imitated him. "You really don't remember me?"

"No," he said softly. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't remember who I am either." He looked around apprehensively. "Or where we are."

"You're name is Alexander Drake," she said softly. "I'm Jennifer, your wife." 

"You're my wife?" he asked with a smile.

"Yes."

"What are we doing here?" he asked.

"It's a long story. I'll explain it when we get to the other side," she promised. "Can you trust me?"

"I guess I don't have a choice in this situation," he said with another smile.

"Okay, this is what we'll do. I'll lower myself and untie us from the lower bar. Meanwhile, you'll tie a loose knot around this bar," she said, pointing at the higher one.

"What kind of knot?" he asked in a businesslike voice.

"It doesn't matter, as long as it's loose so we can slide it as we move," she said.

"Okay," he said. He nodded and grimaced again.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"My head hurts," he said. "I'm sleepy."

"We have to hurry," she said, trying not to show her nervousness.

She lowered herself again and untied both knots. "Alex, are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes, I've got it," he said. But apparently, he didn't get it right, because when Jen tried to move up again, she found no resistance to her weight, and fell down, with a yell.

She fell for a couple of seconds that seemed an eternity. She stopped in midair, looking up at Alex, to find him holding on to the rope as hard as he could while he tried to tie it around the bar, in order to help her up. She had only fallen a couple of feet, but it had been enough to make her shake and cry.

"Jennifer, you alright?" she heard him ask. But she couldn't answer, terrified, holding on to the rope with shaky hands. "I can't pull you up, you have to climb," he said. But she wasn't listening. "Jennifer!" he called again. That seemed to kick her back to consciousness. 

"Y-yes?" she stammered, tears still running down her cheek. 

"You have to climb a bit," Alex said, his body bent forward, his right hand holding the highest bar above his head, and both of his feet on the lowest. His left hand was thrust towards her.

She climbed up the rope until she reached the bar, ignoring his helping hand. "Are you okay?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. She pushed it away. 

"You told me you had it," she said in an angry whisper.

"I thought I did, I'm sorry."

"Are you trying to kill me?" she asked, her voice angrier and angrier.

"Jennifer, I swear, it was an accident, I thought the knot was tight," he said, trying to put his hand on her shoulder again.

"I trusted you and you failed me!" she yelled. "I could have died," she snapped. "You could have killed me!" she accused.

He didn't say anything, his face sad and confused. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I didn't mean it." He lowered his eyes to the bar.

Jen sniffled all the way over what was left of the bridge. They finally made it to the other side, and she climbed ahead, not accepting his help. She sat on the floor in front of the mares. Her heart was beating fast, and she thought she was going to be sick. She saw his hands taking a grip on the border of the platform, but didn't move to help him.

Panting, he made it up, and moved towards her, sitting next to her. Still sniffling, she turned away from him, half hoping he would put a hand on her shoulder. But he didn't- he just sat there, sadly running his left thumb over his wedding band.

After a few minutes of silence, he asked softly, "Do we have problems?" 

"What do you mean, 'problems'?" she snapped.

"In our marriage. Do we have problems? Because I honestly don't remember if we do," he explained.

She turned to him and saw the sadness on his face. The doubt of not loving him anymore assaulted her after seeing his pained expression and hearing his question. She didn't know the answer. Did they have problems? Was their marriage weak or was it just the strain and the pressure? His eyes were lowered to his wedding band again. She put her hand on his cheek and caressed it, through the beard. He looked up, his eyes gleaming a bit. 

"I hope we don't," he said when he felt her hand on his cheek. He put his own hand over hers, and looked into her eyes. "Because I don't know if I tell you this a lot or not, but you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, not to mention the strongest. I bet you are a wonderful woman, and a wonderful wife," he told her.

That brought tears to her eyes. "You tell me that a lot," she said through her sobs. She approached his face and kissed him on the lips. "We don't have any problems in our marriage; we've never had," she said. "Well, we had one, but we already sorted it out."

"So, we're happy?" he asked, cautiously touching her waist.

"The happiest," she said with a smile.

"It's just that, when you snapped out at me--"

"My bad," she said, "I shouldn't have, I was just so scared," she whispered as she began crying freely now.

"Don't cry," he said soothingly, caressing her hair softly, almost shyly. 

"Don't be afraid to touch me," she told him, looking into his blue eyes. "I'm your wife," she said, holding him tight, burying her face in his neck. "Hold me tight, please," she sobbed. He did as she asked. "Hold me tight, I'm your wife, and I love you," she whispered in his ear.

He kissed her hair, breathing in her scent. "I love you too, Jennifer. I may not remember how it has been, our life together, but I do know I love you."

She looked into his eyes and smiled. "Oh, Alex," she moaned, delighted, leaning in to kiss him on the lips. 

He kissed her back. "Come here, I'll protect you, I'll never let you down again," he promised, holding tight against his body again.

She closed her eyes and believed him. Because she loved him.

To be continued.


	16. Beginning and End

Chapter 16: Beginning and End.  
  
Alex held Jen's sleeping body close to him. He closed his eyes, trying hard to remember her. But he had a problem. Whenever he closed his eyes, he felt the knot slip in his hand, and saw her falling. And then heard her yelling, 'I trusted you and you failed me! I could have died, you could have killed me!' He could hear her angry voice; see her angry, disappointed face.  
  
She stirred and opened her eyes. "Have you gotten any sleep?" she asked drowsily.  
  
"No, not yet," he said simply. "I'm not tired," he lied.  
  
"Yes, you are," she said sweetly. "Of course you are," she said forcefully.  
  
He smiled slightly. "Well, a little," he admitted. "I just didn't want to fall asleep and leave you unprotected."  
  
"Alex," Jen cooed, caressing his hair. "Please, don't do this to yourself," she asked. "I shouldn't have said that, I should have known you were going to start blaming yourself for something that wasn't your fault."  
  
"It wasn't your fault either," he said tenderly. "You were scared, you almost died."  
  
"Not because of you," she told him. She kissed his forehead. "Come on, I'll summon my sleeping bag and we can both take a good nap, we need it." She did as she said, and then took his hand in hers. "Come, let's sleep, we need to rest."  
  
He lay next to her, but didn't even attempt to close his eyes. "Jen," he began.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What are we doing here? You never told me."  
  
"We are rescuing our children," she said.  
  
"We have children?"  
  
"Twin boys, Adam and Andrew," she said, caressing his chest through his shirt. "They are less than a month old."  
  
"Why would anyone take them from us?" he asked again.  
  
"Because--" her voice trailed off into a deep breath. "Because you are you, and I am me."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Alex, we are, were, the two best officers Time Force ever had. Do you remember Time Force?" she asked.  
  
He took his time to answer. "Monsters? White uniforms?"  
  
"Yes, and those monsters are mutant criminals," she said. "We used to fight them and capture them as part of the Force. We were an elite group of officers, the Power Rangers Time Force."  
  
"I remember being given a little silver thing I put on my wrist. it had a funny effect, gave me a red armor," he said softly, his voice slow as he struggled to keep the memory.  
  
"Yes, your red ranger morpher," she said happily. "But you didn't use it the last few months, you used a new one, the black morpher."  
  
"I don't remember that one," he said sadly.  
  
"It's normal you don't remember anything recent, although that was from a year ago," she joked.  
  
"The red one was from before?" he asked.  
  
"Like five years, maybe more," she informed him.  
  
"And you and me? How far back do we go?" he asked.  
  
Jen didn't answer immediately. She took her time to think. Should she tell him the whole story or just the nice parts? Should she tell him about Wes? Should she keep it to herself? What if they had to go through everything again? What if she had to earn his trust from zero, like before? So many questions assaulted her, and she took so long to answer that he kissed her forehead, asking, "Still awake?"  
  
She looked up at him. She decided that only telling her the nice parts would be lying to him, and if he discovered she had kept these things from him, he might get suspicious again. She took a deep breath. "We go far back," she whispered. "And we had to go through a lot, to get to where we are."  
  
"Why don't you tell me?" he asked.  
  
"Okay," she agreed, as he kissed her forehead. "We met in the Time Force training facilities." she broke into the whole story of their relationship. He listened intently, and she had the feeling he had fallen asleep. Right before she got to Wes, she heard him snore, and decided to call it a day. She closed her eyes and buried her face in her husband's neck.  
  
Now it was the turn of the brotherhood to do their thing.  
  
*********************************************  
  
Jen fell deeply asleep, into nothingness, into blackness for a few minutes. That's how it had been since the brotherhood blocked her powers. She would fall into nothingness, into peace. She had already discovered that she liked it, that nothingness, that peace.  
  
Sleeping without dreaming was now what she liked most, because dreaming reminded her of that dark time in her life, when she hadn't had Alex, when she had wanted to dream until she died. Even the sweetest of dreams reminded her of those dark times, because back then, everything of her dreams had been the sweetest.  
  
She drowned in that nothingness, enjoying it. Then there was light. A bit of light, just a spark. Then there was a whole ray of light, invading her darkness, her nothingness that was no longer nothingness because now there was light. The ray of light grew until it filled everything. Now everything was bright, everything had light. Jen looked down, but she couldn't see herself in the bright light. She didn't know what she looked like; she didn't know what she was. All she knew was that she was.  
  
She was aware of her being, floating in the light. Then she felt something else filling the space- that now was space and filled with light because before it was nothing- it was warmth. She closed her eyes and felt it, welcoming it into her space. Welcoming it into her mind. She looked up and saw a bright spot of light she recognized immediately as the sun. And it wasn't alone above her, because she could see the moon, pale, barely visible, but there it was.  
  
Then, under her feet ground began to appear. She felt it under her feet, despite the fact she couldn't see her own feet, then it grew around her and at last it was. A light rain fell over her and it formed a pool in the ground by her feet, she splashed it softly, smiling. She giggled, enjoying the sensation of the warm water on her. She felt like the water, falling, splashing, caressing. She felt as mild and soft as the water, just as clear and pure. But she also felt like the ground at her feet, strong, hard, proud and full of life. She felt the ground vibrate under her feet and heard the water running, a river cutting its way through the land.  
  
Then the ground felt even fuller of life. She felt it vibrate excitedly and looked down to see the smallest of daisies grow right out of the ground. She grew and was. Around her more plants grew, all kinds of plants, trees, flowers, bushes, tall, small, thin and thick. The trees seemed to grow fruit right before her very eyes, the smaller plants exploding with color as flowers grew out of them by the second.  
  
Then there was an explosion of sound as birds appeared on the trees and plants. They suddenly flew out of the branches, singing, calling and filling the skies with their colors and life. Clouds joined the birds above her and when she looked down at the river she saw it filled with all kinds of fishes of all colors. Big, small, blue, red, silver and black, fishes of colors she had never seen. Fishes incredibly big and incredibly small.  
  
The ground vibrated one more time, but this time because of the footsteps of the hundreds- no, thousands- of creatures walking on it. -canines, felines, rodents, horses, even insects had appeared around her.  
  
And then, as she marveled on all the wonderful things that surrounded her, she felt her own body becoming solid. She felt herself becoming human, being human. Now she not only was; she was human.  
  
With a soft laugh she looked up to see Alex running towards her, naked, happy, innocent and free. They embraced tightly, in a loving innocent embrace. They looked into each other's eyes and then there was love, the last thing left to create in that new world in Jen's mind.  
  
They kissed lovingly, and clothes appeared on them, protecting them, and when they opened their eyes they were at home, but their house wasn't in the middle of the city. It was in the middle of that forest, of that garden.  
  
Jen looked out of the window and saw all that beauty as she felt Alex's arms wrap around her lovingly and felt, as part of that world she was in, how her twin children appeared behind them, sleeping peacefully. The animals came to the house, to meet them and pay a respectful tribute to them, and they smiled at those animals and paid a tribute to them as well.  
  
Jen looked at the skies and knew she was having the sweetest dream. She was dreaming about Paradise.  
  
*****************************************  
  
Alex caressed Jen's arms softly. She was smiling in her sleep and he wondered what she was dreaming about. He caressed her robotically, his mind drifting from that situation. He had remembered once meeting his doppelganger; a man who looked exactly like him, except for his blond hair.  
  
He remembered Jen hugging this man on a beach. He remember being in pain and being sorry, but he couldn't remember why. Who was that man? He closed his eyes and tried harder to remember him.  
  
His name began with a W. Was it Walter? No. Williams? No. Weston? No, but it was close. Wesley. That was it, his name was Wesley. Wesley Collins to be precise. He remembered hating that man and as he looked down at Jen he remembered why. He had taken Jen away from him; she had fallen in love with Wes and broken his heart. As far as he remembered, she had never stopped loving that man. Perhaps she had married him thinking he was Wesley.  
  
But a small voice in his mind got through the anger. She has already proven to you that she loves you.  
  
How? asked his anger. By yelling at me and telling me that I was trying to kill her? By pushing me away? By keeping from me everything that had to do with that man? How dared she to lie? Who the hell did she think she was?  
  
He got up, angrily pushing her away from his body and waking her up.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Jen asked drowsily, vaguely seeing the letter from the brotherhood falling next to her.  
  
"Do you think I'm stupid?" he asked angrily.  
  
"Alex, are you okay?" Jen asked, getting up.  
  
"Did you really think I wasn't going to remember?" he yelled at her.  
  
"Remember what?" she asked, scared.  
  
"Don't play the idiot with me!" he yelled with his face red with anger, his eyes wide and spit spraying with every word.  
  
Jen shrunk away from him, not knowing what was going on, but feeling he was extremely angry, angrier than he had ever been, he was so angry he couldn't think. "Alex what are you talking about? What has gotten into you?" she asked, moving forward to him, putting her hand on his shoulder.  
  
He took her hand and twisted it, despite her struggling and yells of pain, until he heard the wrist snap. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked, clutching her injured hand.  
  
"Did you think you could keep it from me?" he yelled, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her closer. "Did you really think I was never going to find out?"  
  
"Find out about what?" she whimpered, scared of the man who had made her feel safe for so long.  
  
"About Wes!" he yelled, throwing her to the floor.  
  
Jen hit the hard marble and looked up, tears falling from her eyes. She was silently thankful Alex wasn't wearing a belt, and she didn't really know why.  
  
"Did you sleep with him?" he asked her, standing tall.  
  
"No, never, I never even--" bold pain across her cheek. He had slapped her.  
  
"Wrong answer!" he said. "Tell me the truth! Did you sleep with him?"  
  
"No!" she yelled back. "Not ever!"  
  
"Don't lie to me!" he yelled, rising his arm.  
  
"NO!" Jen cried, crouching away from him, but his hand still hit her, sending her face first against the floor.  
  
"If you think you can make a fool of me you are so very wrong," he menaced, pulling her to a standing position by the arm. "I will not be made a fool of!" he yelled.  
  
"Alex, I don't know what you're talking about," she whimpered.  
  
He clenched his fist angrily and drove it towards her face, hitting her and sending her to the floor again. He drew it back and sent it forcefully against her again, against her face, then against her chest.  
  
"Are you going to beat me to death?" she asked through gasps.  
  
"Try to stop me," he snarled.  
  
"No, stop yourself," she said calmly. That seemed to fire his anger up again and he grabbed her by the hair and threw her head against the marble. The sound was so indescribably sickening, he snapped back to his senses. He saw his wife lying there, and looked at his hands, his blood-covered knuckles.  
  
"Oh, God," he whimpered, sitting next to her. "Oh, God, Jen," he brushed the hair off her face and kissed her forehead. "Jen please, wake up," he begged. "I'm sorry, baby, I love you, please, please wake up," but she didn't move, she didn't wake up. He ran his hand over her head and it came back covered in blood. "Come on, wake up!" he yelled.  
  
He shook her shoulders, but she didn't react. "Don't do this to me, Jen, I'm sorry, I learned my lesson, okay? I'm sorry, wake up!" he begged sobbing desperately. He began crying with regret, burying his face in her chest, which no longer moved with her breathing.  
  
She was dead. He had killed her.  
  
To be continued. 


	17. Loneliness

Chapter 17: Loneliness.  
  
"Please, come back," he whispered desperately, holding his wife's body tight, her head on his chest, clutched by both of his hands. Her blood had kept running and had stained his hands, arms, and shirt. "Jennifer, I can't live without you, please, don't leave me, I'm so sorry," he cried with true pain and regret, rocking back and forth on his knees.  
  
He didn't know how long he had been there, rocking her, begging her to come back. He held her body tight, kissing her forehead. However, he began to feel his eyes sting with something more, not just tears.  
  
His eyelids became heavy, as if made of lead. The brotherhood was drugging him. Now he hadn't just lost Jen, he had lost the children too, he had lost his family and the brotherhood was drugging him so he would fall asleep for the last time. He knew he wouldn't wake up. Their bodies would be found on the beach and their journey would be over.  
  
He lay on the floor, still holding Jen's body close to him. He kissed her forehead again, feeling sleep washing over him. "I hope you are resting now, honey," he whispered. "I love you; I didn't mean to hurt you, not ever," and then he fell asleep.  
  
***********************  
  
Alex opened his eyes. It took him a few seconds to realize he remembered everything, all of his life, all of his marriage, all of his mission. And he also remembered his attack of anger and how it had ended. And his last ponderings before falling asleep, but he had been wrong.  
  
He wasn't dead; he was still in the marble path by the Mares of Diomedes. Jen's body was still next to him, now cold to the touch. He let go of it, and sat down, his head spinning, he felt he was going to be sick. Restraining himself at the last minute, he saw a piece of paper neatly folded, fallen on his leg.  
  
He picked it up with trembling fingers. The brotherhood hadn't killed him in his sleep, and they had sent him a letter. What terrible destiny would he have to face now that he had killed his companion and the love of his life?  
  
Unfolding the piece of paper, he began reading slowly.  
  
Fear no punishment for the horrible crime you have committed. Your own guilt and loneliness will serve that purpose. Leave your wife lying there; we'll take care of her body. You must now become a lost traveler, and face a destiny that will eat you up from the inside.  
  
Leave Jen there? By herself? In the cold? He couldn't. And how dared they give him a riddle at that moment? He had just killed his wife; he was in no mood to solve riddles. On the other hand, he had been given the chance to continue without Jen. He could still save their children and honor Jen's memory.  
  
The riddle said he had to become a lost traveler and face a destiny that would eat him up from the inside. He had the feeling that was the key. The rest of it was just condemnatory. And it was also very obvious: the mares ate lost travelers, plain and simple. He had to go to the manger and get inside.  
  
Jen's lifeless body caught his sight one last time and his hand ran over her head as a form of goodbye. Her once soft hair was now stuck to her broken skull, all blotched and sticky with blood. "I'll get them back, Honey, I promise," he vowed and stood up. He walked slowly towards the manger, afraid of what he might find.  
  
It suddenly occurred to him that the mares could suddenly come to life and eat him while he was in the manger. He looked back at Jen's body and realized he didn't mind losing his own life now that he had lost Jen. He tried to look into the manger and realized it was so big the only way he could do it was by climbing inside. He grabbed hold of the edges and used his arms to push himself up until he could put a knee on the side too. He looked into the manger and saw nothing but blackness.  
  
"Well, here I go," he whispered and let himself fall inside.  
  
And he fell. And fell. And fell. The fall lasted about ten seconds, but it seemed much longer to him because he had been expecting only a short one.  
  
The cave he found himself in went on to the left and the right as if he had landed in the middle of it. He noticed the ceiling was high, very high, but only a few inches over his head there were metallic bars that crossed the cave from wall to wall and seemed very firm.  
  
He jumped to see if he could reach them. He could, they were high enough for him to hang from them and low enough for him to be able to reach them with a jump, which was a real stroke of luck because he wasn't exactly tall.  
  
He wondered about the purpose of the bars that went on only to his right and what the next task was, as he looked up again at the little dot of light that was the manger. He could have sworn he felt someone touching his shoulder, and, remembering he hadn't said a prayer for his wife's soul, he closed his eyes and said one, letting go of her, for the moment deciding to face the situation as if he was on a mission for Time Force and one of his men had just died in action; it seemed the best way to take it, at least at that moment.  
  
The cave was well lit with that kind of light that seemed to come out of nowhere, like in the other room. The task and their scenarios were getting more and more sophisticated as they moved on. He shrugged and decided to take the position of the bars as a sign and started walking to his right, looking around for any sign of what he had to do. He had barely moved a few feet when he heard a rumble.  
  
It shook the floor under his feet and sounded loud against his ears, echoing in the cave. The rumble continued for a few seconds and then gave way to another sound. The sound of water running, and fast. It was most likely a lot of water, almost like a river. Then as the rumble and sound grew louder, it hit him. The water was running towards him. He looked around him for a way to escape.  
  
The bars! That's what they were there for! He jumped towards the one above his head and pushed himself up, trying to stand on it, but it was very hard. He tried to think of another way, but right now, the rumble of the water that let him know of its closeness seemed to have filled his mind with water too, drowning him in fear and keeping him from thinking.  
  
Just at the moment he lost his equilibrium, the water appeared, filling the cave with enough speed and strength to kill him, if he had been on the floor. But he had managed to grab the bar again and was hanging from it, the force of the water making him swing back and forth.  
  
Swing. And jump to the next bar. He had done that millions of time in his gymnastics training in high school and the Time Force academy. He had never told anyone, but he had been a cheerleader, and a good cheerleader, also a member of the gymnastics team of the school. All he had to do was swing for momentum and then jump to the next bar. It was within reach. He looked at the bar and took a deep breath.  
  
For a few moments he was seventeen again. Hanging from a bar, swinging back and forth ready to make the last jump of his routine. And he let go of the bar and his hands landed on the other cleanly, his speed taking him around the bar once. He let go and grabbed the next bar. He kept doing it fluidly, because he knew that if he stopped he might lose focus and fall down and in this particular competition he wasn't going to land on a soft blue mattress, but in a terribly angry brown and white river of water that instead of protecting him from injuries was going to kill him. The words of his coach came to him clearly, so appropriate: "Remember, son, falling down is against the rules, you fall down and you are dead, for the judges, you are d-e-a-d!"  
  
"I'm not going to fall down," he told himself mentally as he kept jumping from bar to bar, the river still passing underneath him. He jumped about ten times, and then noticed the bars began to climb. They were getting higher, one by one. He moved to stand on the bar from which he was hanging and jumped to the next one that was higher. He repeated the operation several times and finally found himself landing on rocky floor.  
  
It was another corridor. The walls and ceiling were covered in marble, but not the white marble used so widely in the other rooms; this was black marble and made the corridor look smaller and creepier. Taking a deep breath, and wondering why the floor wasn't covered too, Alex began walking in the only direction possible. The total silence that filled the corridor made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He was scared and alone. He had the feeling someone was watching him.  
  
Suddenly in the silence, he could hear an echo of Jen's voice; "Alex, where are we going?" She sounded nervous, confused. "Where are you going?"  
  
He spun around and scanned the corridor, staring. "Don't you dare!" he yelled. "Don't you dare to insult her memory like that!" He was angry. How could they do that to him? How could they use Jen to confuse him and hurt him?  
  
"Alex, what are you talking about?" Jen sounded just behind him, but he turned around and he was all alone.  
  
"Stop using her voice!" he yelled. "I don't know how are you doing it, but stop using her! Let her rest in peace at least!"  
  
"Let who rest? Me? Alex, what's wrong with you? What are we doing? Where are we going?" Jen kept asking from out of nowhere.  
  
"STOP!" he yelled and ran down the corridor as fast as his tired legs could carry him.  
  
"Alex!" he could hear Jen's voice calling him. "Alex, wait!"  
  
He only stopped when he got to a black iron gate. He crossed it and closed it behind him. He threw himself to the floor and took several deep breaths, trying to regain control of himself. He looked up at the room and saw the floor, now covered in marble, was littered with pieces of what seemed to be animals, mechanical and robotic animals. They were made of different material, plastic, different metals, wood, rocks and there was even one made of glass. He moved closer to them and saw the inscription on the wall.  
  
"...So Minos, after fighting his brothers for the sovereignty of Crete, asked Poseidon to give him a sign of his true kingship. The god of the Sea sent a gleaming white bull that emerged from the sea, confirming to all concerned that Minos was the true King of Crete. But Minos refused to sacrifice the Bull, and Poseidon sent a curse over his wife, Pasiphae, who fell madly in love with the stolen bull..."  
  
Alex ignored the contents of the rhyme for the moment, feeling exhausted and hungry. He sat on the rocky floor and summoned some food. He ate without wanting to, just to pacify his stomach. His gaze was lost, his mind wandering to the beautiful moments he had spent with Jen. A tear ran down his cheek, he didn't bother to dry it, nobody was watching. He closed his eyes and leaned back on the floor, his breathing uneven. He let out a sound that was a cross between a moan and whimper. Then he let out a cry, his face turning red, his eyes watering.  
  
He finally wailed. And his pained wail filled the room and echoed, sending his pain right back to him; he curled on his side and cried as he hadn't cried since he was a little boy. He cried earnestly, his face red, his entire body shaking, wailing and writhing.  
  
He never knew for how long he cried, but in his pain, he could feel Jen's touch, her voice, low and soft, coming to him from a place too far away, her spirit now his guardian angel. She tried to soothe his pain, to calm him down, and finally he fell asleep again, his head throbbing and his heart pumping too hard in his chest.  
  
He opened his eyes only half an hour later. It took him a while to remember why he was alone, and where he was. He sat for a few minutes, still, lost in thought. Suddenly, he remembered he had promised Jen to get the kids back, so he jumped to his feet and turned towards the inscription on the wall, this time paying attention to what it said.  
  
He read it twice, slowly, trying to find something to hold on to. "King Minos?" Alex asked himself. "Crete... The Cretan Bull! This is the story of the Cretan Bull, the father of the Minotaur." He summoned Buda from his pocket. "Please, Buda, research the Cretan Bull and The Minotaur for me, and make it quick."  
  
"Yes, sir," the robot said. After a few minutes, Buda looked past Alex and then to his owner again. "Sir, why are you ignoring her? She's telling you correct information," the mouse said.  
  
"Ignoring whom?" Alex asked distractedly.  
  
"Her," the mouse said. "You know, your wife."  
  
Alex looked at him for a few seconds, then picked him up by the tail and began looking around his body. "How did they tamper with you? I thought you couldn't be tampered with!"  
  
"What the--" the mouse began. "You are either blind, or completely out of your mind, mister."  
  
To be continued... 


	18. Confussion and Deceit

Author's Note: This is partly the events of chapter 17 from a different POV.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
Chapter 18: Confusion and trickery.  
  
"Please, come back," Jen heard Alex whisper as he clutched her against his body.  
  
"Alex, are you okay?" she asked drowsily, feeling him rock back and forth.  
  
She had been awakened by his rocking and by his continuous kissing of her forehead and caresses on her hair. She had thought he had remembered everything and was now in the mood to fool around, but she had been amazed by his attitude when she woke up. He had been crying desperately and holding her as if she was on the verge of death.  
  
"Jennifer, I can't live without you, please don't leave me," he begged. "I'm so sorry," he said, crying.  
  
"Leave you?" she asked, moving her hand to touch his cheek and dry his tears, genuinely worried. "Why would I leave you? What are you sorry about? Alex, what's wrong?" she asked, trying to wiggle out of his arms, but his hold was too tight. She was struck by a sudden sleepiness and she felt Alex gently putting her on the floor after a few seconds.  
  
He kissed her forehead and said: "I hope you are resting now, Honey, I love you, I didn't mean to hurt you, not ever." After whispering those mysterious words he fell asleep, followed by Jen, who didn't have time to wonder any more.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
Jen woke up when Alex ran a hand through her hair and whispered near her ear: "I'll get them back, Honey, I promise."  
  
"You'll get who back?" she asked drowsily. "Alex, what is it with you?"  
  
She opened her eyes and sat up just in time to see him climbing onto the edge of the manger. "Alex, where are you going?" she asked, alarmed, but he ignored her, jumping down. "ALEX WAIT!!" she yelled, getting up and running to the manger. She climbed up and jumped in, landing next to him after a fall.  
  
Alex moved towards one of the bars that decorated the walls and jumped, grabbing it with both hands firmly and then letting go.  
  
"Why did you leave me behind?" Jen asked angrily. "Why are you ignoring me?!" she demanded, pushing his shoulder as she stood in front of him. "Alex, stop acting like this!"  
  
But he just closed his eyes and murmured something that sounded like a prayer, in which he asked the Lord to receive her in his arms for she had been a great woman in her life on Earth.  
  
"What the--" Jen's cursing was cut short when a rumble shook the cave they were in. "What was that?" she asked but he pretended he hadn't heard her.  
  
Or better yet, he didn't hear her.  
  
"What are we going to do?" she asked, scared. He didn't answer with words, but he jumped and grabbed one of the bars that were firmly crossing the cave above their heads. She imitated him on that, but didn't follow his lead when he pushed himself up and tried to stand on the bar. "Alex, you are going to fall," she warned.  
  
He lost his equilibrium at the very second the water appeared and filled the space underneath them, with enough strength and velocity to carry them away and drown them. Jen let out a small fearful scream when he almost fell, but was relieved to see he had managed to grab the bar again.  
  
The force of the water seemed to be making them swing back and forth. Not knowing what to do she just hung there, wondering how they were going to get out of there, when she saw Alex moving and swinging back and forth more forcefully.  
  
"No," she said, shaking her head. "No, you wouldn't dare, it's too dangerous, Alex we can't--" she gasped with surprise when he let go of the bar he was hanging from and landed neatly on the other. She closed her eyes and sighed. "Oh, well," she said, rolling her eyes and following his lead silently.  
  
They jumped several times through evenly placed bars and then she followed his lead through bars that climbed higher and higher. They stood on the bars, jumped to the next. Moved up, stood and jumped several times until they landed in a corridor.  
  
The corridor they were in had a rocky floor, but the walls and ceiling were covered in black marble. "Why do you think they didn't cover the floor?" she asked, but Alex ignored her, a visible chill running through him. "Are you scared?" she asked, trying to catch up with him. "Alex, did you get the letter? What did the brotherhood say we had to do?" she questioned, staring at him intently.  
  
Confused, scared and a bit angry at his attitude she asked, "Alex, where are we going? Where are you going?" she rephrased.  
  
Alex finally seemed to have heard her, for he turned around and looked in her general direction, his eyes filled with anger. "Don't you dare!" he yelled suddenly, startling her. "Don't you dare to insult her memory like that!" he turned his back to her again.  
  
"Alex, what are you talking about?" she asked nervously.  
  
He turned around again and looked right past her, as if she was invisible. "Stop using her voice!" he yelled at no one in particular, his face red with effort and anger. "I don't know how you're doing it, but stop using her! Let her rest in peace at least!"  
  
"Let who rest? Me? Alex, what's wrong with you? What are we doing? Where are we going?" Jen kept asking, fearing for his mental health.  
  
"STOP!" he yelled, and ran down the corridor as fast as his legs could carry him.  
  
"Alex!" Jen called after him, running and trying to catch up with him. "Alex, wait!" she called, but once again was ignored.  
  
Jen followed Alex past an iron gate he then bolted shut. He threw himself on the floor and took several deep breaths. Jen moved to him and was about to touch his hair when he raised his head and looked around the room. She did too, marveling at the amazing pieces that littered it. Pieces of animals, made of different materials- wood, metal, glass- and when she moved closer, Jen discovered they were all cows. Alex moved closer to them too, but his attention was caught by an inscription in the wall. Jen stood next to him and read:  
  
*"...So Minos, after fighting his brothers for the sovereignty of Crete, asked Poseidon to give him a sign of his true kingship. The god of the Sea sent a gleaming white bull that emerged from the sea, confirming to all concerned that Minos was the true King of Crete. But Minos refused to sacrifice the Bull, and Poseidon sent a curse over his wife, Pasiphae, who fell madly in love with the stolen bull..."*  
  
Alex sat on the rocky floor and summoned some food, Jen followed his lead and grabbed something too, unlike his, her mind was still on the lines written in the wall. His gaze was lost, and his expression of pain trapped her attention. She stared intently at him, as he pushed the food into his mouth and forced his throat to swallow. A tear ran down his cheek, he didn't bother to dry it, Jen moved closer to him, her hand almost touching his. "Babe, you okay?"  
  
He didn't answer. Instead he closed his eyes and leaned back on the floor, his breathing uneven. He let out a sound that was a cross between a moan and whimper that made Jen's hair stand on end. Then he let out a cry, his face turning red, and his eyes watering.  
  
He finally wailed, and Jen jumped towards him, worry filling her features. His pained wail filled the room and echoed, sending his pain right back at her, he curled on his side and cried like a little boy. He cried earnestly, his face red, his entire body shaking, wailing and writhing.  
  
"Oh, my God," Jen said worriedly, kneeling next to him. "Alex, baby, what's wrong? I need you to tell me what's wrong, Alex." He kept crying, not listening to her words. Jen took his hand in hers and kissed it softly. "It's okay, Honey, it's okay," she said soothingly. She caressed his hair as he shook with tears, and kissed the side of his head and his shoulder; when he felt asleep, she took his head on her lap and caressed his hair, wondering what could be causing him so much pain. Then she remembered what he had said about her leaving him, the prayer and how he had yelled at The Brotherhood to stop insulting her memory.  
  
It hit her, and filled her heart with pain too, tears of compassion forming in her eyes as she realized what her husband was believing. "You think I'm dead, don't you?" she asked in a croaky whisper. She just sat there, caressing Alex's hair, until he woke up, about half an hour later.  
  
He opened his eyes and sat up, looking lost in thought for a few minutes, before he got to his feet and stood in front of the verses given to them. Jen stood up next to him and read it too.  
  
"King Minos?" Alex asked himself after a few minutes. "Crete... The Cretan Bull! This is the story of the Cretan Bull, the father of the Minotaur."  
  
"It is," Jen said. "Pasiphae felt such infatuation for the bull she asked Daedalus to build her a wooden cow so she could trick and mate with the bull," she explained. "It was from that union that the Minotaur was born."  
  
Alex, for reasons she now understood, ignored her, and summoned Buda. "Please, Buda, research the Cretan Bull and the Minotaur for me, and make it quick."  
  
"Yes, sir," the white mouse said.  
  
"Alex," Jen complained. "I know everything about this legend! I know it by heart, I read it several times." She took a breath and raised her voice. "When Daedalus gave Pasiphae the decoy, she climbed into it and fooled the bull. The Minotaur, which had the head and tail of a bull and the body of man, was their child. The Minotaur caused terror and mayhem in Crete, so King Minos then asked Daedalus to build a labyrinth from which escape was impossible. The inventor did so and the Minotaur was locked inside. Every year for nine years the monster received seven young sacrifices from Athens, lads and maidens, until the hero Theseus got himself trapped in the labyrinth and, using a cord to mark the way out, managed to kill the Minotaur and escape the labyrinth, with the latest sacrifices."  
  
"Sir, why are you ignoring her? She's telling you correct information," Buda asked Alex after looking at Jen.  
  
"Ignoring whom?" Alex asked distractedly. The mouse looked at Jen who rolled her eyes.  
  
"Her," the mouse said. "You know, your wife."  
  
Alex looked at the robot briefly, then picked him up by the tail and began looking around his body. "How did they tamper with you? I thought you couldn't be tampered with!"  
  
"Alex what are you doing?" she asked, amazed. "Leave him alone, you are going to break him!"  
  
"What the--" the mouse began, over Jen's voice. "You are either blind, or completely out of your mind, mister."  
  
Jen looked at the mouse. "Buda, can you see me?" she asked suddenly.  
  
"Of course I can see you!" the robot said.  
  
"See who?" Alex asked the mouse, putting him back down on his palm.  
  
Buda opened his mouth but Jen stopped him. "Don't even try, he can't see me."  
  
"What do you mean he can't see you?" the robot said.  
  
"I guess someone picked up on one of my old tricks," she murmured. "Buda, I need you to be my voice, I'll tell you everything and you'll tell Alex."  
  
"What if he throws me against the wall?" the mouse asked.  
  
"Have you had a short-circuit?" Alex asked "Who are you talking to?"  
  
Jen saw Buda looking at her. "Tell him that I'm here, that I'm alive."  
  
"Like that's going to work," the mouse said, sounding annoyed.  
  
"Tell him someone is doing to him what I did to his mother in that old stable, that it's just an illusion, that I'm here," she added.  
  
The mouse delivered the message and Alex stood silently, his back turned to her, the robotic mouse on his hand. For a few seconds, Jen feared Alex would throw the poor robot against the wall, but they didn't have much time to think. They heard the sound of hooves and both turned towards the Iron Gate, where the white Cretan bull stood.  
  
"Is that a robot?" Alex asked.  
  
"Yes," Buda said after scanning it.  
  
"Now what?" Alex said, looking down. "You never told me about the Minotaur," Alex noted.  
  
"Jen knows everything about him," Buda said.  
  
"So, she's really here? She's really alive and I can't see her? I didn't beat her to death?" he asked with a broken voice. Jen looked at him with tearful eyes.  
  
"Alex, what did they make you believe?" she asked. What horrible thing could they have made her poor husband believe? Did they make him think he had killed her?  
  
"Bull, help, hurry," Buda said, bringing her back to the matter at hand. Alex shook his head slightly, visibly containing the wave of emotions he must be feeling at the moment. They had more pressing matters at hand.  
  
Jen looked around and smiled. "Thank God you are good at building stuff," she told Alex and Buda repeated the message so he could hear it.  
  
"Why?" he asked. "What do I have to do?"  
  
The message Buda delivered surprised Alex. "She asks how good you are at building cows."  
  
To Be Continued.. 


	19. Taurus

Chapter 19: Taurus.  
  
"Building cows?" he repeated his eyes wide. "What does she mean building cows?"  
  
Jen looked at Buda. "This robot, the bull, can you sense anything coming out of him? A signal? Anything?"  
  
Buda scanned the robot and detected a signal. "Yes, there's a signal coming out from him."  
  
"Buda, tell Alex about Daedelus' wooden cow, and tell him he has to build one," she said, wondering why The Brotherhood hadn't given them instructions that were more specific. "He will have to build it fast."  
  
Buda repeated the instructions to Alex, adding the information about Pasiphae and the wooden decoy.  
  
"Jennifer," Alex said to thin air, "What exactly are you planning to do with that cow after it's built?"  
  
She swallowed and answered, "I plan to use it."  
  
"You what?!" he asked after Buda transmitted the message. "Jennifer, where did you leave your mind?"  
  
"I can't remember," she said a bit bitterly. "I think I lost it."  
  
"Really funny," Alex said, after Buda let him hear Jen's answer. He sighed. "Okay, so I build the wooden cow, and then you use it," he said knowing it was a lost cause.  
  
"Come on," she said, kneeling next to the pieces. "I'll help you."  
  
He knelt too and summoned his toolbox, although it surprised him that his father had even included it. "The man thinks of everything," he sighed and opened it, pulling out a wrench. "Let's build this thing."  
  
The building of the whole thing was a rather bizarre experience for Alex. He sat there, building the robot with the wooden parts that were already pre-made. Basically most of the things he had to do were reduced to putting piece A in hole B. Occasionally Jen sent him an encouraging comment or a suggestion through Buda. The most bizarre thing was how the pieces appeared to come to Alex all by themselves, but he couldn't see them moving. He would lower his eyes and when he looked up, a piece would be there, probably brought by Jen.  
  
Alex put the final piece in the cow and looked at it. It wasn't pretty, after all it was a cow, but it made him sort of proud, he admired it silently for a second, before his mind drove him back to the imminence of Jen 'using' the cow the way Pasiphae had.  
  
"She says you are missing the hide," Buda said, startling him. "Okay," Alex said and walked around the room looking for anything that looked like the hide of a cow. He found it neatly folded in a corner. "Got it."  
  
"Put it over it," Buda instructed, following Jen's command himself. "Okay, now, quick briefing of the plan: Heracles made a lasso and chased the bull until it tired, then tied the lasso around its neck and calmed it into submission. Then he leapt to the bull's back and rode it to King Eurystheus' court."  
  
"Good for him, but this bull won't get tired, and it doesn't mention what we should do with our wooden cow," he said bitterly.  
  
"Jen's plan is to control the cow into calming the bull into submission, if you know what she means, then you put a lasso around its neck and both of you will jump on its back and ride it."  
  
"I don't like it," Alex said, his attention returning to the gate, which was barely restraining the robotic bull now.  
  
Jen sighed exasperatedly. "We don't have a choice!" she yelled and Buda repeated her message.  
  
"Fine!" Alex yelled back. "How do you plan to use the cow? I hope you are not planning to do it like Pasiphae because I'll resign myself to a life without sex from now on!" He tried to say that with a serious face but couldn't suppress a snort and a light laugh.  
  
"No, I won't control the cow like Pasiphae did," Jen said after a fit of laughter that matched his. "I'll use the remote control."  
  
"The remote control?!" Alex asked Buda. "What remote control?"  
  
"The one that only she can see?" Buda asked uncertainly. "She has a black device in her hand with lots of buttons, I guess that's the remote control she's talking about," the robot explained.  
  
"She couldn't mention that before?"  
  
"She says no." Alex rolled his eyes.  
  
"Where can I find a lasso? We ran out of rope," he asked.  
  
"In the corner," the robot said, pointing at it with his snout. Alex went over and picked up the roll of rope, at the same moment the gates gave way and the rabid bull stormed into the circular room. "Yee-hah!" Alex said without humor.  
  
When the bull stormed into the room, Jen turned the cow on and began sending a signal to it. She moved the robotic cow to the middle of room, trying to 'distract' the robot from Alex. However it became obvious something was wrong, when the robot didn't respond positively to the cow.  
  
"Alex, I think I found a little flaw in our plan," she said.  
  
When Buda delivered the message, Alex answered: "What do you mean 'our' plan?"  
  
"Alright, my plan." She looked at the bull and then at Buda. "Give me a status of my situation here please."  
  
"The cow sent the wrong signal to the bull, which is now running a heat scan of the room in order to find you both and kill you with its incorporated weapons," Buda said simply.  
  
"That's going to leave a mark," Jen whimpered. "Okay, Honey, it's up to you to come up with plan B, as usual," she granted.  
  
"One plan B in the works," Alex said, pushing a button in his glove, as the bull ran towards him and tried to charge him.  
  
"Get out of the way!" Jen yelled unnecessarily, for Alex jumped to his side and rolled on the floor, finally getting on his knees. In his hand he was carrying his shiny black V-blaster.  
  
The bull turned around and moved towards them again, for now they were standing side by side. "Get to cover!" Alex instructed, and he paused, waiting for the right moment. Finally, he pulled the trigger and shot a blast of energy which was reflected back towards him, hitting the wall and exploding there sending pieces of stone and clouds of dust.  
  
"Alex!" Jen yelled worriedly, but he was okay, crouching behind a piece of rock and coughing the dust from his lungs. She let out a long sigh of relief. "Plan C?!" she asked.  
  
"No," Alex said. "I know how to do it," he said easily. "Stay covered, let me do it." He changed weapons, instead of his over-sized V-blaster; he chose two smaller hand blasters.  
  
The bull was charging against the stone behind which he was hiding. He rolled to the side and the bull didn't bother to charge against him, it shot at him with thick and bright laser beams. Jen screamed, surprised, but Alex couldn't hear her.  
  
He aimed at the legs of the robot and shot, one shot to its right rear leg, and one to the front left one, right in the knee. The legs exploded and the bull fell onto its side.  
  
Alex then ran behind the robot and pressed his right index and middle fingers against the back of his ear, summoning his scanner. The robot was immobilized, and Alex's face was dead serious.  
  
"I failed with Dragontron, but I won't fail with him," he announced. "Move towards the door, Jennifer, and get ready to run. Buda, let me know when she's at the gate."  
  
Jen moved easily towards the door, while the bull let out a few more useless shots, breaking more wall and creating more dust. "She's there," Buda announced when she got to the wrecked gate and pushed it open, holding it for him.  
  
"Okay, go back to your pocket." Alex moved towards the gate slowly, not taking his eyes off the robot, his scanner still working. "Gotcha," he said, raising both blasters and taking a couple of seconds to aim properly, finally firing five small shots from each weapon to a particular spot in the bull.  
  
An odd, electric kind of sound, like a high-voltage wire humming filled the silent room and sparks began to fly out of the robot. Alex ran towards the gate, which was being held open by Jen, and they both ran as fast as their legs could carry them over the rocky floor.  
  
The robot exploded before they had moved more than a few meters and the force of it knocked them both to the floor. The air was filled with an unexpected smell of burning rubber.  
  
After the shock of the explosion passed, they both began to get up. Jen got to her knees and brushed off her hands, noticing a small cut in her left one. Alex was on his knees too, looking behind them over his shoulder.  
  
"Okay, now what?" Jen asked aloud, not expecting him to hear her.  
  
"I have no idea, there is a fire back there, so going back would be stupid-- " he stopped dead and turned to look at her, and he actually saw her. She was fine, completely healthy. A little dirty and covered in dust, but definitely not beaten to death. His face shone with happiness and he jumped to his feet, moving to her.  
  
She smiled widely too and jumped to her own feet, waiting for him. He embraced her tightly, kissing her deeply and for a long time.  
  
"I missed you so much," he whispered, his eyes closed, his forehead pressed tight against hers.  
  
"I missed you too. I'm glad you can see me," she said, her own eyes closed. They parted slightly, their eyes opening, and catching each other's. "Does this mean we passed the task?"  
  
"I guess so," he said, looking at her tenderly, running his fingers through her hair.  
  
"What do we do now?" she asked.  
  
"I don't know," he said vaguely, still caressing her hair and her face. His hand moved to her shoulders and then he pressed her tight against him again. "I don't want to do anything but hold you for now."  
  
"That's okay," she said, burying her face in his neck. "I don't want you to do anything but hold me for now, except perhaps kiss me."  
  
He pressed his lips against hers softly, and the world around them disappeared once more. A few feet from them, a fire burned down dozen of robot pieces, and under their feet a raging river ran, but inside of them burnt a fire much bigger, and ran a river much stronger.  
  
Their love.  
  
To be continued.... 


	20. No Tresspassing

AN: sorry it took so long but i was very busy at school!! now i'm free and ready to continue!!

* * *

Chapter 20: No Tresspassing: Private Property.  
  
Alex and Jen let go of each other and walked towards the edge of the corridor, right above the raging river. They stood on the edge looking down and then looked at each other.  
  
"Any ideas?" Alex asked.  
  
"We have the scuba diving things, perhaps we could try to let the river carry us," she suggested.  
  
"Did you catch the smell of rubber back there?" he asked, looking at the fire they had left behind.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I think it was a rubber boat that we were supposed to get from the bull," he said sadly.  
  
"Well, no crying over spilled milk," she chided. "Let's just jump and see," she suggested and summoned her oxygen tank and mask.  
  
While she walked towards the edge, he grabbed her. "You aren't planning to jump from up here?!"  
  
"From where, then?" she asked, noticing he hadn't even summoned his gear.  
  
"It's too high, the water could knock us unconscious," he pointed out.  
  
She looked down and nodded. "You're right. What do we do?"  
  
"We have to climb down using the bars we used to climb up," he said, moving towards the verge and kneeling.  
  
Jen thought he looked like a little boy climbing out of bed and remembered something she had read in Alex's father's mind years ago, when they had discovered the bodies of Doctor Jenkins and his wife. She had seen, from Mr. Drake's point of view, how his two-year-old, Alex, had tried climbing off their bed and had lost his diaper in the process, falling on his butt after letting go, startled, when his mother took a picture of his bare bottom. Later that picture had been shown to Alex's friends, when he was a teenager, one of the worst moments in his life, as he had stated.  
  
Alex found the bar and put both feet on it and then knelt very slowly and climbed down to the next with the same patience and care. Jen looked down at him from the edge of the corridor, and when he was far enough so she couldn't accidentally step on him, she began moving down herself, in the same patient and careful way.  
  
When they reached the even line of bars, the water was barely four feet below them. She wondered how they had managed to jump from pole to pole when they climbed up. She shook the question out of her mind as useless and stared down, the oxygen tank tied carefully on her back and the mask around her neck.  
  
Alex had summoned his gear, including the depth meter and was securing it when she sat on the bar in front of him. "Did you notice there's more water now than when we climbed up?" he asked.  
  
"I noticed we couldn't have managed to do the acrobatics we did when we climbed up now, there's too little space," she commented.  
  
"At least two feet more of water," he said. "And the current is slower now." Of course just because it was slower didn't mean the water was calm. To Jen's eyes, the river looked just as fast, raging and dangerous as always.  
  
They put on their masks and looked at each other one last time, nodded and jumped in the river, feet first. The water was cold and dark, and they swam downstream, along with the chilly water, until they found themselves against a marble wall that let the water go through a series of fine gaps, about a foot wide each.  
  
It was obvious their way underwater was blocked, for there was no way they could get through those gaps. Alex took Jen's hand under the water and led her to the riverbank that appeared to their right when the wall stopped, while on the left it continued.  
  
They got out on the marble floor that served as the river pool tile. About 9 feet from them, two entrances to dark tunnels cut the otherwise perfectly smooth pink marble wall. Torches hung on the wall, illuminating dimly the floor by the water, but the tunnels were perfectly black.  
  
Taking the masks and oxygen tanks off, they collapsed tiredly face-up on the floor. "We are in a sewer," Alex stated suddenly, his voice sounding almost annoyed.  
  
"A sewer?!" Jen repeated. "We just swam in that water!" she exclaimed, disgusted.  
  
"Sorry honey, I didn't mean an actual sewer," he said. "At least I hope it's not. It's a replica of an ancient sewer."  
  
"Still gross," she said.  
  
"Girls will be girls," he whispered under his breath.  
  
"What was that?!" she asked snappily.  
  
"Nothing," he said simply. He wanted to move on, but so many days of sleeping badly and straining himself physically were starting to take their toll on him, and he was unable to gather enough strength to move.  
  
"Alex, what do you think we should do now?" Jen asked tiredly.  
  
"Rest, and then eat."  
  
Jen moved towards him and he wrapped one arm around her shoulders weakly. They were still dirty and cold, and as they hugged each other they felt drowsiness falling on them, along with the familiar sweet smell of the drug given to them by the brotherhood, but this time for anesthetic purposes.  
  
Four hooded and masked figures walked towards them, picked them up, and took them with them.  
  
There was plenty to be done.

* * *

Jen opened her eyes and found herself lying by Alex's side. He was also stirring. She sat up and looked down at her hands and found them both bandaged and also a couple of band-aids scattered on her body.  
  
She peeled off the bandages and found two new tattoos. On her left hand, by the base of the thumb, was Taurus, in mauve. On the right hand, between the middle and ring fingers, right by Leo's side, was Gemini, tattooed in a brighter shade of yellow than its neighbor. She stared at them for a short while and then put the bandages back on. Feeling her chest light and empty she looked at it and cupped her breasts with her hands.  
  
Alex's hand touched her shoulder and she looked up, to see his hands bandaged too. She gave him a small smile and he returned it. "We have a basket," he said pointing at it. The usual basket was filled with food and drinks, and bound to contain a letter for them, especially now they had gone through two tasks without any word from the brotherhood.  
  
Alex moved towards the basket and dragged it closer. Inside they found some chicken, bread, grains, and fruits, along with two large bars of chocolate.  
  
"Mm—"Jen said appreciatively. "We earned chocolate!"  
  
Alex chuckled and pulled out a bottle of water, and a bottle of wine. "Wine!" he exclaimed, surprised.  
  
"Chocolate and wine?!" Jen asked. "Wow, we must have done something really well, or terribly wrong." She grabbed some chocolate and out it in her mouth. Alex imitated her, equally hungry.  
  
"Or maybe it's a clue," he suggested, after he swallowed. After a few seconds of silence he asked, "Wasn't there something about centaurs and wine in one of Heracles' tasks?"  
  
"Yes, I think it was with the something-rian Boar," Jen answered, summoning Tao.  
  
"What do I look for now?" the mouse asked.  
  
"Any task of Heracles that included wine, please," Alex said distractedly, still unpacking what was in the basket, which included a new sleeping bag as well.  
  
"Incidents of Heracles and wine," the mouse repeated. After a few seconds he informed them, "When he was asked to track down, capture and take back to the king Eurystheus the Erymanthian Boar, he asked a centaur friend, named Pholus, to open a jar of wine that belonged to all the centaurs. They went after him, intending to kill him for profaning the gift given to them by Dionysus. He fired his poisoned arrows at them and drove them to the cave of his old teacher, who died when a stray arrow hit him. Another arrow killed his centaur friend."  
  
"Well, that doesn't sound very encouraging," Jen commented, taking a piece of the bread when she heard her stomach gurgle.  
  
"Found the letter," Alex said, opening it and reading it silently. As his eyes moved lower, his face lost some color, and just when Jen was going to ask him what was wrong, he blushed furiously. As he finished reading the letter, his face returned to its usual pale color. He folded the piece of paper and looked up at Jen who was staring at him, a piece of bread halfway towards her mouth.  
  
"Well?" she asked.  
  
"Well what?" He faked innocence, taking a gulp from the wine bottle.  
  
"What does it say?!" she urged, bringing the piece of bread to her mouth finally.  
  
"It says we did very well in the previous tasks, although they are sorry we missed the instructions for Taurus." He stopped himself again, to take a bite from the chicken and a new gulp of wine.  
  
"So there were instructions for the Taurus task?" she asked, taking the wine bottle from him and taking a gulp herself. She felt rude as a pirate, drinking straight from the bottle of wine, but hunger and isolation can convince one to make an exception to normal manners.  
  
"Yes, and apparently in our--" he lingered, looking for the right word. "Confusion we didn't see the other envelope."  
  
"I understand," she whispered. She also lingered, trying to gather enough courage to get him to talk about the vision he had seen, and what had made him blush so furiously while he read the letter.  
  
They continued eating silently, while Jen got her act together, and Alex simply thought about what he read in the letter. Finally, after they had eaten all the chicken and the bread and drunk all the wine, she took a deep breath and asked, "What did they make you see?"  
  
"Excuse me?" he asked, although he had heard her perfectly.  
  
"What did you see when you thought I was dead? How did I die?" she asked further.  
  
He looked at her silently for a couple of seconds. He was debating whether or not he should tell her. The letter from the brotherhood had warned him of keeping things burning inside of him, letting them grow inside and never letting them out. They had meant to warn him about how he still felt every time Jen mentioned Wesley Collins. He had so many doubts stills, so many concerns, and still none of them related directly to whether Jen loved him or not. They related to whether he was the only one she loved, related to how strong their love was and how much would they be able to resist if something like that happened again, if they were again parted, if a third person showed up in their lives, to seduce her, or him. How much would they hold on? How strong was their love when it came to the strains of a regular relationship? Would their love survive another attack like the one Wes had given it?  
  
He felt her intense stare on him and decided to listen to their advice. He had learnt to do that many years ago, after he had hit himself against brick walls too many times to allow him to ignore it. He sighed.  
  
"I--" He looked down, swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "I felt anger. An intense anger and hate, I thought you hadn't told me about Wes on purpose. I thought you had hidden it from me because you didn't want me to remember it."  
  
"Alex that's not true, you fell asleep and I--"  
  
"I know it's not true!" he snapped. "Still, I was so angry and jealous. I felt like I couldn't let go of it, I just couldn't let it go. I asked you if you had slept with him and then I was so angry I felt like hitting you, and I did. I hit you, over and over, I was so angry I snapped your wrist and then I beat you up." His eyes got tearful, as the terror of remembering the vision overcame him. His voice was broken and shaky when he continued. "I grabbed your head and crushed it against the floor, breaking your skull and killing you in the act. It was only then, not even when you asked me if I was going to beat you to death, that I got back to my senses, after you were dead." He sniffed and Jen ran to him and hugged him.  
  
"Alex it wasn't real, you never even laid a hand on me, you didn't even stir in your sleep, I was hugging you," she said soothingly.  
  
He shook his head. "It's not important if it happened or not, what's important is that I'm capable of killing you barehanded, that one day I could snap and—and..." He couldn't bring himself to say it.  
  
She grabbed his face and forced him to look at her. "Alex, no," she said firmly, looking intently into his eyes. "It couldn't happen, you would never lay a hand on me!" she assured him.  
  
"How do you know?" he asked. "You can't know what I feel, what I keep inside--"  
  
"I can, remember?" she said. "I do, I know how you feel, I know about your doubts and about your pain, I know--"  
  
"You've read my deepest fears? My most terrible doubts?!" he asked, suddenly angry. "You dared to invade my privacy like that?!" He got up as he said, "Do you think that just because you have psychic powers you have the right to spy on my thoughts, the right to invade the deepest areas of my being?!"  
  
"Alex, honey I--" She had gotten to her feet herself.  
  
"No." He stopped her. "Don't even try to justify yourself."  
  
"I wasn't trying to--"  
  
"You disgust me. I can't believe I trusted you so much! I really thought you respected my privacy, my mind."  
  
"Alex, I've never--"  
  
"IT'S MY FUCKING MIND, JENNIFER!" he yelled. "I thought you'd never dare to go so low. I can't believe I can't trust you anymore!"  
  
"Alex I swear I never read anything you didn't want to share with me!" she said desperately, putting her hands on his shoulders, her voice almost pleading.  
  
"I don't believe it," he said.  
  
"I'm swearing! When have you ever heard me swear in vain?!" she asked.  
  
"I don't know," he said simply, taking her hands off his shoulders. "That's the thing, I don't know."  
  
"Alex you know me."  
  
"I knew you," he corrected.  
  
"Meaning what?" she asked, feeling hurt.  
  
"That you are not the same woman I fell in love with, you are not the same Jennifer I loved and trusted."  
  
"Did you ever trust me, ever since I got my powers?" she asked, cautiously.  
  
"Not completely," he admitted. "Ever since you came back from capturing Ransik, I could never trust you completely again." She stepped back as if he had slapped her. She had tears in her eyes and looked extremely hurt. She shook her head silently. "And now I just discovered I had a reason."  
  
"I can't believe this," she said, but not to him. "This is like a horror movie, like a nightmare; suddenly everything is falling apart." She looked at him, terrified. "Suddenly we are falling apart."  
  
"I love you so much, Jennifer," he said, stepping from her. "But I'm now realizing maybe this wasn't meant to work. I can't trust you, and you live in a fantasy, away from reality, still in your dream, believing everything is all right, acting as if all those things you read in my mind--"  
  
"I NEVER READ ANYTHING PRIVATE FROM YOUR MIND!!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "I never ever violated your privacy!"  
  
"You act as if everything was okay, as if those things weren't there," he continued, ignoring her, this time willingly. "I can't live like that, Jennifer. I made many sacrifices for you, and now I find myself wondering if I should have ever forgiven you, if I should have ever taken you back."  
  
"Don't say that," she said, moving towards him, causing him to step further back. "We love each other."  
  
"But we don't trust each other. It's obvious you don't trust me--"  
  
"I do trust you!"  
  
"And I can't trust you."  
  
"Are you looking for motives for a fight?" she asked suddenly. "It's that what you want? A fight?! Are you bored of me? Do you want to be free from me for a while? Because if you do, you don't have to hurt me like this."  
  
"I do want some time away from you," he admitted. "I need to think, alone."  
  
"Fine," she said, looking away. "You didn't have to pick this stupid fight to get away from me, I understand--"  
  
"Oh, God, YOU want to get away from ME!" he accused.  
  
"No!" she denied immediately. "I want us to get through this together, and I thought you did too. I thought you loved me, I thought you wanted to hold on to this love, for our family!"  
  
"I did," he said. "But you know me, Jen. You know how much I value privacy and trust, and I feel I'm not getting either of them in this marriage."  
  
"That's just an idea that found its way to your brain five minutes ago!"  
  
"You know very well it's been there for quite a while."  
  
"I have never seen inside your mind!"  
  
"Yes, you have!" he accused her so firmly, she found a second to notice she had never seen him that certain about anything.  
  
In that second she decided to give up. "Fine. I have read your mind, every single inch of it, I've read your every thought, your every doubt, you every fear. I know everything there is to know about you, and based on all those things I have driven this marriage one way or another, hoping to sort those doubts out, to keep away from those things you fear. But obviously, the situation has gotten out of my control."  
  
"That's why you miss the old situation?"  
  
"Yes. It has nothing to do with peace, quiet, romance, warmth, or love," she said through tears. "It's about control. It's about me not having any control over you anymore." Each of those false words that escaped her mouth to weave the lie he needed to hear hurt her terribly, for the anger and disbelief in his eyes increased.  
  
"I'm going for a walk," he said, moving from her and towards the entrance of a tunnel. "Don't follow me, I don't want you near me," he instructed.  
  
She didn't answer; she just looked away, towards the water, and wept silently. She didn't hear him walk away, and the sounds of the running water and her tears were the only things she heard.  
  
Until she heard the rumble of the slide.  
  
And the scream.  
  
To be continued. 


	21. Sagittarius I

Chapter 21: Sagittarius I  
  
"Alex!" Jen yelled, running towards the noise. She ran towards the tunnels and saw one of them blocked with rocks. She reached them and began to desperately pound them with her bare hands. "Alex!" she called for her husband again, and put her head against the surface, trying to hear something. She tried to dig through the rock wall, but without her psychic powers she had no real opportunity of getting them out of the way in time to save her husband.  
  
She took a couple of deep breaths and stepped back from the rock wall, trying to cool her head down and think properly. "Think, Jen!" She looked up and noticed the other tunnel was still open. It wasn't likely that this tunnel ended up in the same place as the other did, but she could try to find a way to rescue him. Perhaps this was the task.  
  
The task.  
  
That was it, this was the task, she had to find the instructions, they were bound to be somewhere. She looked around for the letter, but Alex had taken it with him. So if the instructions were there, she was doomed.  
  
However, she felt more calmed now, clinging to the idea that this slide was part of the task, so she could hold on to the idea that Alex was fine and safe. As she looked around for the instructions for the task, her eyes filled with tears of shame as she realized her husband could be dying and the last thing they had told each other were words of anger and mistrust.  
  
What could have made Alex snap at her like that? Perhaps he was again under the influence of The Brotherhood? That was not probable, she had to admit it; they were not likely to repeat themselves like that.  
  
This left the only other option possible. Hadn't someone once said that when you ruled out everything that was impossible, what was left, however improbable, must be the truth? And in this case, the truth was Alex didn't trust her completely. The truth in this case was that she had been living a lie; that just like Alex had said, she had been living in a dream, in a fantasy. They had never been truly happy again, not like they had been before Ransik, before Wes. She fell tears fall from her eyes as she realized she had never truly gotten Alex back, not like she thought she had, not like he had gotten her back.  
  
When she had gotten back together with Alex, she had done it feeling like the same naïve young girl he had met years before. She had let him be the strong one, the brave one, the smart one. She had been his girl, no; she had been his, period.  
  
But he had never been hers again. Had he been just pretending? No, it wasn't that bad, he did love her, he always had, of that she was sure. But he hadn't trusted her and that hurt her as much as if she had discovered he didn't love her. Hadn't he once told her that he thought relationships without trust couldn't work? Was their marriage doomed due to lack of trust? Were they going to rescue their twins and then divorce? Keep one baby each and move to separate houses? She knew that if they did that they would never have homes again. Just houses.  
  
She snapped back to the present with a sniffle and looked around again for the instructions for the task. She would never be able to save her marriage or even divorce Alex if he died. She didn't find anything that looked like the instructions for the task so she summoned her flashlight from her officer glove and entered the tunnel that was still open.  
  
There wasn't much there to see; it was a natural cave and only the floor had been smoothed, but the walls and roof had been left intact. The bright light of the flashlight bounced off the irregular walls, and after a couple of minutes Jen lost hope of finding any instructions carved on the stone. Finally, she spotted a trembling bluish spot of light ahead, and it encouraged her to move faster, so much that she felt like running towards it, but held herself back. She found a blank iron gate that opened easily towards a room that was so deep within the cave she had stopped hearing the sounds of the river.  
  
She opened the gate, walked past it, and found herself in the room where, she knew, the task was to take place. She looked around; the walls were covered with marble as usual, and her footsteps echoed in the room. In this case the roof was in plain sight, at a mere five feet above her head. In the middle of the room was a gigantic fish tank, empty. It was big enough to fit a man inside and drown him, about two yards high and five feet squared at the base, roughly measured. The huge glass box was resting over a marble pillar that was about two feet high and a foot wider than the tank on all sides, and also was holding small pots with flames burning inside of them.  
  
On the top of the tank, perched on the border, rested twelve birds sculpted in steel with small pouches of some sort on their breasts, as if hanging from their necks. Clasped between their claws were different gemstones, shining in the light. The trembling bluish light was coming from within the tank, and suddenly it turned off, leaving the room in near darkness, only lit by the flames in the pot, which barely made it to the border of their containers.  
  
Jen barely saw a dark shadow, moving lower, into the tank. She turned on her flashlight and discovered the dark figure's identity. It was Alex, unconscious and tied as if he was an escape artist, with a straitjacket wrapped around his upper body, cuffs around his ankles, and thick heavy looking chains wrapped all over him, locked with big, solid-looking padlocks.  
  
"Oh, God, Alex!" she exclaimed worriedly, the flashlight falling from her trembling hands. As she continued to stare at the now dark spot where her husband was being lowered, she felt someone else was in the room. Turning around, she saw nobody in the dim light, but she was certain someone had been there. The sensation of being accompanied lasted only a couple of seconds, and then disappeared, as fast as it had come. She leaned down and picked up the flashlight, pointing it towards Alex.  
  
She took a step forward and the light turned on again. Her attention was focused on her husband and his health, a quick look from head to toe told her he didn't have any open wounds or anything that was apparently life threatening. After being reassured of that, she looked around for the instructions. What she found was a keychain with five large, solid keys and a cross-bow and six arrows tied together, their points wrapped in a raw cotton rag that had been soaked in something that smelled like a gasoline sample she had once caught a whiff of at school. She recognized it because the smell was so strong and characteristic she had been unable to forget it. Having an arrow soaked in gasoline surprised her, because it hadn't been used as a combustible for over five centuries and therefore hadn't been produced in an equally long time. How had the brotherhood gotten hold of enough gasoline to soak these arrows in?  
  
Next to the arrows there was a note for her, written by the brotherhood; she picked it up and looked up at Alex one more time briefly. She noticed a very small spurt of water streaming down one of the glass panels making the typical pattern of irregular curves. Before her mind could make any conclusions, she lowered her eyes to the note, unwrapped it, noticed it was unusually long, and read it:  
  
_Are you to be trusted with your husband's life? _

_Or are you too restless to get it right? _

_Twelve birds up in the skies, _

_only six arrows on fire, _

_Shoot the right five; don't let your hope die. _

_Which ones are right? _

_We can hear you ask _

_Let the Archer _

_Give you his light _

_And the numbers _

_Their ancient art _

_Here are some aides _

_From the future of the past _

_Find them _

_And they'll lead you to their treasures _

_Taken by the right birds _

_First find the one whose 5-pointed crown_

_ Helps the world get to you _

_He teaches you and leads you _

_By joining two great forces _

_Then find the one whose hands _

_Make it below as it is above _

_With wisdom as pure as snow _

_Secured with lies and deceit _

_And covered in a desire _

_That burns like fire _

_Third is a singular pair _

_Watched over by an angel _

_Their stares don't ever meet _

_And still one sums them all three _

_Fourth is a lady _

_Sitting among memories _

_That grow in the imagination _

_Watered by the bridge _

_Between who you are _

_And who you want to be _

_A crown like hers _

_Is what you are seeking _

_For its twelve points _

_Are hindrances in your way. _

_Last is this lady's companion _

_A gentleman sitting where he deserves _

_For his wise and systematic work _

_With the world in his hand _

_He puts all things together _

_And represents fashion _

_In which things are done _

_Good luck _

_You have two hours._  
  
"Two hours? To decipher all this by myself?" Jen whined. "Alex, I don't know if I can do it alone..."  
  
"Alone?!" said a high-pitched voice behind her. Startled, Jen squealed and turned around. She looked around but found nobody. She closed her eyes trying to calm herself and felt something crawl up her leg and her back rapidly.  
  
Petrified, Jen screamed again in disgust, and then heard the same voice whisper in her ear, "Let me see that, and it would be nice if you called Tao too."  
  
With a sigh of relief Jen asked, "Buda?"  
  
"Summon Tao, let's get to work," the mouse ordered. Jen chuckled, Buda had certainly picked up a bit of his owner's charming personality. "We are running out of time, that water stream isn't getting any thinner, you know?"  
  
Jen turned around and saw about an inch of water already in the bottom of the tank, and the stream falling down the glass had gotten thicker. Her fingers found the buttons in her officer glove, and Tao appeared in the palm of her hand.  
  
"What do you need now?" he asked.  
  
"Help," Jen said simply, her gaze fixed on the steady stream.  
  
To be continued...


	22. Sagittarius II

Chapter 22: Sagittarius II  
  
"That's what we are here for, where do we start?" Buda asked.  
  
"How about the beginning?" Jen suggested. She sat down on the floor, and put Tao in front of her. Buda climbed down and stood next to Tao. She put the note in front of her and moaned, "I can't read with this light." Using her flashlight as a lamp, she read the whole note again, this time out loud.  
  
Both mice looked at her for a second, looking thoughtful. Jen couldn't help but smile, it was so much like Trip, to give a pair of robots the ability to have and show such a wide emotional response. "So where do you think we should start?" she asked.  
  
"We need to know what we are dealing here with, so we can start doing the research," Tao suggested. Buda wiggled his whiskers in agreement.  
  
"Ok, let's try to figure that out," she began and read the first few lines of the note.  
  
"Twelve birds, six arrows, but only five are right, that means we can miss a shot, not a lot but it's not bad."  
  
"Let the archer give you his light, and the numbers their ancient art," Tao quoted. "I'll look up everything I can about Sagittarius, to see what we can find there."  
  
"Wait," Jen ordered. "Let's map the whole thing out and then do the researching, so we can research the most important things first." Tao and Buda expressed their agreement. "So, the ancient arts of numbers," Jen continued. "That would be math, right?"  
  
"I'm not sure, mathematics is a science, not an art," Buda refuted.  
  
"Well, there's numerology," Tao suggested. "That could be the art of numbers."  
  
"Good call, Tao," Jen said. "Next part, we're running out of time."  
  
"Here are some aids, from the future of the past, find them and they'll lead you to their treasures, taken by the right birds," Buda recited.  
  
"The birds are holding something in their claws," Jen pointed at them. "Gemstones."  
  
"So, we have to use numerology to connect whatever these aids are to the gemstones," Buda concluded.  
  
"I need a more specific description of whatever these aids are."  
  
"They come from the future of the past," Tao said. "The future of the past, wouldn't that be the present?"  
  
"The aids are from the present?" Jen asked. "How does that make any sense? The rest of the riddle takes about crowns and angels, it can't mean the present. On the other hand, the future of the past would be the present, like Tao said."  
  
"There has got to be a catch," Buda said. "They haven't precisely made everything clear until now, have they?"  
  
"A catch," Jen murmured, looking back at the tank were Alex lay leaning against the wall, still unconscious, with three inches of water under his shoes. "A catch," she repeated. "The future of the past," she fell silent, thinking hard. "Fortune telling!" she exclaimed.  
  
"What?" the mice asked at unison.  
  
"In the past, fortune telling was a common activity, there were several methods of it, perhaps that's what it refers to."  
  
"I'll look some of them up," Buda volunteered.  
  
"We have to find one that has some relation with numerology," Jen said. Buda fell silent for a while, and so did Tao, they both had their eyes closed, which meant they were searching for the requested information.  
  
After about thirty seconds, Buda said, "Tarot, Runes, I Ching, and Chamanism are fortune telling methods related to numerology."  
  
Jen felt her soul fall to her feet. But in that moment Tao added: "But, Tarot is the only one that has characters drawn using a complex symbol method. In Tarot each of the Major Arcana cards, called the Triumphs, symbolized something, and each element of the picture had its own hidden meaning." Jen looked at him as if she would kiss him.  
  
"They have pretty pictures with funny names, I think that's it," Buda agreed.  
  
"Well, Tao, research the Triumphs, because if this is true, then the other leads will point to five of them. Buda, you research the numerology, and find the relation between the Tarot Cards, the gemstones, and the numbers. Hurry up, you two."  
  
While the mice did their job, Jen summoned a water bottle, mentally thanked Katie for reminding them to pack food and drinks, and drank it all.  
  
As she swallowed the last sip, Tao stood on his rear legs and said: "I'm ready."  
  
Jen nodded and picked up the note. "First find the one whose five-pointed crown helps the world get to you, he teaches you and leads you by joining to great forces," she read.  
  
"That would be the Hierophant, his crown has five points at the top, symbolizing the five senses, and this crown also has three levels symbolizing the mind and its levels: conscious, subconscious and super conscious. He teaches and guides, because he represents the inner being and the intuition, which is truly based upon reason and a collection of facts sent from the conscious to the subconscious and back. This is symbolized by the grey background of the card, because grey is the union of two colors, black and white, and the intuition, in this case the hierophant, is the union of both conscious and subconscious mind."  
  
"Ok, so the first one is the Hierophant," Jen concluded. She looked at Buda and asked, "You have it?  
  
"Yes," the mouse answered. "The Hierophant falls under the vibration of number five, and the gemstone for this number is the Ruby."  
  
"Ok, so we have to shoot the bird holding the ruby," Jen said, getting up. She picked up the crossbow and one of the arrows and aimed at the wall opposite them.  
  
"What are you doing?" Buda asked.  
  
"Practicing," Jen answered. "I don't want to miss any of them," she closed her right eye and bit the tip of her tongue and shot. The arrow traveled towards the wall at full speed, hit it and fell to the floor with a clatter. "Not bad," Jen sighed. She leaned down and picked up the flashlight and pointed it upwards, towards the birds, looking for the one with the red stone. After finding one with a dark pink stone, she asked uncertainly, "Is that one it?"  
  
Tao looked at the stone for a while; Jen knew he was scanning it. "Aluminum Oxide, it corresponds to Corundum. The red variety of corundum is a Ruby."  
  
"This one is almost pink," Jen said.  
  
"It's got traces of chromium, and it's still red; that's the ruby," Tao assured. Jen looked at him, not completely reassured, but still put an arrow in the crossbow and aimed.  
  
She was about to shoot when Buda yelled, "Wait!"  
  
"What?" she asked, putting the weapon down.  
  
"You have to set the arrow on fire," The mouse pointed out.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Twelve birds up in the skies, only six arrows on fire," he quoted. "I think that means you have to set it on fire."  
  
"And don't forget to aim at the pouch on their breasts," Tao added.  
  
"Got that one by myself, Tao, thank you very much," she said bitterly, as she set the arrow on fire, and put it in the crossbow. She didn't have much time to aim afterwards, and as she did, she remembered how bad her aim had been before she met Alex, and how it had been him who had taught her everything she knew. In that brief moment, it occurred to her she might have let him down when she made him quit Time Force, and therefore threw all his hard work down the drain.  
  
The heat around her hand brought her back to the present and she noticed the fire in the arrow had gotten dangerously big. She aimed rapidly but carefully, as Alex had taught her and then shot. The arrow hit the pouch in the bird's breast dead center and it caught fire as well.  
  
"I hope that was meant to happen," she whispered, as she returned to the mice and sat down. "Then find the one whose hands make it below as it is above, with wisdom as pure as snow secured with lies and deceit and covered in a desire that burns like fire. Suggestions?" she asked Tao.  
  
The mouse took a couple of seconds to answer, and then said: "I think it would be the Magician."  
  
"You think?"  
  
"Well, no, I'm sure it's him, the Magician. He represents the conscious mind, and his hands are stretched forth, one pointing to the sky with a wand and the other pointing to the ground below, this means 'as above, so below'. His undergarment is white, representing his pure wisdom, and it's held shut by a snake, say lies and deceit, and the outer garment is red, symbolizing desire and passion, but as it is not being held shut it can be taken off when necessary."  
  
"Wisdom like snow, desire burning like a fire and hands that make it below as it is above, that's our man," Jen said. "Number and stone please."  
  
"The Magician is number one," Buda said. "Number one's stone is the diamond."  
  
"A diamond I can recognize," Jen said with a smile and got up. However after walking around the tank twice she had to admit doubt. "Guys, there are two transparent ones, how do I know which is the diamond?"  
  
"The one you are staring at isn't." Tao said after a minute. "That's silicon dioxide, in other words, a quartz crystal."  
  
"The one on the far side of the bow is elemental carbon at high pressure, a beautiful, huge and pure diamond," Buda said.  
  
"Thanks," Jen said with a smile, lighting the second arrow and firing it. She hit the target and returned to the robots. "Third is a singular pair watched over by an angel, their stares don't ever meet and still one sums them all three."  
  
"Those would be the Lovers," Tao said without hesitation. "The couple and the angel represent the three levels of the mind, and their stares never meet. The angel is staring to the front, as he represents the super conscious he's also uniting the man and the woman, at least visually. The man stares at the woman, because he's the conscious mind, and the woman stares up at the angel, because she's the subconscious mind. So there a singular pair, watched over by an angel whose stares never meet and still sum one."  
  
"The Lovers are number six, and the gem is sapphire," Buda said. "Sapphires are commonly blue, but be careful because they can be any color, except for red. If it's red it's not a sapphire, it's a ruby."  
  
"Interesting, but I think I'll look for the blue one first," Jen said, getting up. She found the sapphire without problem, and didn't miss the shot either. "Wow, three out of three, Alex would be proud if he was awake," she commented as she sat back down. "I thought my aim would be a little shaky after this long." A pang of guilt and pain hit her inside when she said those words and remembered what she had thought earlier. The guilty feeling increased when finally, suddenly, everything made sense in her head. She felt like crying, for it was so simple, and its simplicity made it harder and more complicated, if possible.  
  
"Ok," she said, trying to shake the need to cry off; she had found what was wrong, and had to start fixing it from that very moment. She read the note, reminding herself that Alex was in danger. "Fourth is a lady sitting among memories that grow in the imagination watered by the bridge between who you are and who you want to be. A crown like hers is what you are seeking, for its twelve points are hindrances in your way."  
  
After thirty seconds, Tao said, "The Empress. She represents the aspect of memory in the subconscious. The plant life on the card, on which she is sitting, represents the cultivation of these memories in the subconscious, so they can evolve into creativity and imagination. There is a stream that seems to be watering the valley where she is, and therefore the plants and this stream falling in a pool are symbolic of the joining of the conscious and the subconscious. The stars in her crown represent the twelve tasks of the zodiac."  
  
"The obstacles in my way, the twelve signs of the zodiac," Jen said, nodding. Then she looked at Buda.  
  
"The Empress is related to number three, and the gemstone for this number is the pearl."  
  
"That one is easy," Jen said, and repeated the operation she had completed with the previous four birds. Feeling confident after doing it right, she returned to her seat for the last part of the riddle. "Last is this lady's companion; a gentleman sitting where he deserves for his wise and systematic work. With the world in his hand, he puts all things together and represents the fashion in which things are done," she read. After her eyes wandered to the last lines of the poem, she threw a glance at Alex and was shocked to see he was covered in water almost up to his neck, and that the stream had been getting thicker and thicker, so the tank was filling faster now. "Guys, we have to hurry," she urged.  
  
"Well, our last card is the Emperor," Tao said confidently. "The Emperor is an older, wiser version of the Magician, and his knowledge of handling affairs in a systematic way earned him his seat on the throne. He's holding the world in his hand because his number, four, is how the world is represented in numerology. This card represents the fashion in which things are done, a system to bring things forth and manifest, starting with one and finishing with four, the building number, which puts all things together."  
  
"Having said the number is four, the gem is the emerald," Buda said. "Go get it quickly, the water won't take long to cover his face."  
  
Jen nodded, swallowed hard and found the emerald. She set the arrow on fire and shot the bird, hitting it on target too. She let out a proud sigh and looked at Alex, but the water was still falling and nothing was happening. Worried, Jen ran towards the tank and hit it with both fists hard. "Alex!" she yelled over and over, but Alex didn't wake up.  
  
The water continued to fall and soon enough was covering him. "ALEX!!" Jen screamed with all her force, feeling that all her efforts had been in vain and that she had failed and killed her husband. But just as she felt tears forming in her eyes, a sound of suction and something grinding could be heard, and Jen could see the bottom of the tank moving lower and all the water escaping through the hole.  
  
After all the water was gone, the walls of the tank began to descend into the pillar too, and Jen ran towards Alex, to catch him when the walls stopped holding him. She held him closer to her and moved his long wet hair away from his face. He was breathing easily and didn't seem to have noticed the water covering his face, or filling his lungs. Jen smiled, he had after all spent less than three minutes without air, and as she thought it, he coughed softly, spitting out some water. Jen sniffled happily as he opened his blue eyes and looked at her.  
  
"Jennifer, what happened?" he asked weakly. "Why am I tied down like this?"  
  
"Shst!" she said, putting her hand on his mouth. "It's ok now, don't worry."  
  
"What happened?" he asked again.  
  
"I saved you, I'll tell you everything later. Now we have to get you out of those wet clothes before you catch a cold."  
  
"Don't you need the keys to open these?" he asked.  
  
"I have them already," she said, looking for the keychain she had found by the arrows. Quickly she opened the padlocks, and then removed the chains. Then she opened the cuffs around his ankles and he sat up. She took off the straitjacket and smiled at him, again removing the hair from his face.  
  
Alex brought her closer, staring at her as if he suddenly realized just how beautiful she was. "You saved me, even after all those things I said?" he asked.  
  
"I have said some horrible things myself; said and done. And you have saved me, and held me and loved me despite each and every one of them. I was just repaying the favor," she said with a smile.  
  
"Everything I said before, Jen, I didn't mean it," he said.  
  
"Yes, you did," she whispered. "But it's ok, in fact, it is better you said them. Made me aware of a lot of things, and released you from the burden of keeping it all inside."  
  
"What kind of things did it make you realize?" he asked, his hands on her waist.  
  
"Originally I thought I had lost you when Ransik injured you, and that I had never gotten you back. Then I realized you lost me too, I just hadn't noticed. I hadn't noticed you didn't fall in love with a clumsy, naïve farm girl. You fell in love with the strong capable woman you helped grow out of that girl, the woman who made you proud in the field. The woman you never got back, after Ransik. We lost each other, and we didn't notice it, until we didn't have anything else to distract our minds with. I thought in the beginning it was about the adrenaline and the danger; that the reason you wanted to go back to Time Force and out in the field was because you like action.  
  
But I couldn't understand why you wanted me back with you. Now I do. That is the way we can get each other back, if we go back to square one, back to where we started, back to what brought us close, to what first built the relationship of trust and the love between us." She moved closer to him as he jumped off the pillar and looked into his eyes. "And I can't believe I ever refused to go back to that, because it's like refusing to go back to you."  
  
He kissed her deeply, and then looked at her with a smile on his face. "You just saved my life, and our marriage," he said. "You know what?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"You are a strong capable woman, I love you and I trust you, in anything."  
  
"In anything?"  
  
"Anything."  
  
"Then I guess you'll be happy to know I want to go back to the Force, and be the strong capable woman you helped grow out of me," she assured.  
  
"I have been waiting for this moment for a long time," he admitted.  
  
"I guess we both were," she said, and kissed him again, deeply.  
  
"HEY!" Buda yelled from the floor. "We missed OUR credit for helping in this task!"  
  
To be continued... 


	23. He said, She said

Chapter 23: He said, she said.  
  
Jen and Alex were walking back to the side of the river through the tunnel Jen had used. They were holding hands and smiling at each other while Tao and Buda told Alex the story of how they had found out the meaning to all the clues, how they had to tell Jen exactly which bird to shoot every time, and they were just short of telling him they had helped Jen to aim and fire.  
  
Alex and Jen did their best to hold back their laughter, but failed miserably. When both robots said they were insulted at their lack of respect and that they wished them good luck solving the next task on their own, Jen had to apologize and tell Alex they had indeed worked all the clues out on their own and guided her exactly to each bird she had to shoot.  
  
Tao said his battery was low, and returned to his pocket in Jen's officer glove to get recharged, while Buda stayed, telling Alex about his bravery and quickness after the slide that sealed the tunnel. This time, Jen and Alex listened carefully to what he was saying, ignoring the part when he claimed to have bitten the hand of one of the people trying to take Alex while he was unconscious.  
  
"I was about to activate one of your weapons and shoot, but I realized a blast would have trapped us all in there, and would have put your life in danger, so I kept myself from doing so, but tried to defend you the best I could by--"  
  
"Biting one of them in the hand, you've said it four times now," Alex said. He took the mouse from his shoulder and caressed its head with his thumb. "Thanks for the brave attempt, I really appreciate it," he told him.  
  
"It was nothing, just doing what I'm programmed to do," the mouse said, looking away shyly.  
  
"Go back to your pocket now, and recharge. You must be very tired," Alex instructed.  
  
"Thanks, if you need me..."  
  
"I'll call you."  
  
After both mice were gone, Alex turned his head to face Jen and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer and kissing her forehead. "So, are you going to tell me what happened for real, or are you sticking to the story where the two crazy robotic mice saved the day?" he asked.  
  
Jen chuckled. "Well, they did!" she said. "Honestly I could have never worked out any of those clues without them."  
  
"The only one of our wedding gifts that's actually worth keeping," he commented.  
  
"And the coffee-maker, we have made very good use of the coffee-maker," she reminded him.  
  
"And the toaster."  
  
"And those frying pans."  
  
"And the wine glasses," he said.  
  
"And the silk linens," she added with mischievous look and grin.  
  
"Oh, right," he said holding her tight. "The silk linens. We have made good use of those."  
  
"Each time we got pregnant, we did it in those linens," she reminded him.  
  
"That's right," he said, kissing her softly, his forehead against hers, their eyes closed. "We've had very good times since we got married, haven't we?"  
  
"We've had the best of times since we met," she clarified. They shared one last kiss and sat down by the basket Jen had left before.  
  
The new sleeping bags were still there, but the food had disappeared. A few meters from it some towels were neatly placed for them to take a bath, presumably in the artificial river.  
  
Alex extended both sleeping bags next to each other and sat on one.  
  
Jen stared at the basket, as it reminded her of the fight they had had before the previous task. Now that the imminent joy of getting him back was gone, she was starting to feel again the pain and the anger that had built inside of her.  
  
"You hungry?" he asked slowly, his hand on her shoulder.  
  
Jen looked at him over her shoulder and smiled. He had told her she was living in denial, in a fantasy, and now it was he denying their problems, acting as if the fight hadn't happened.  
  
He moved towards the basket, bringing it closer to them, and began pulling fresh food out of it. He handed her an apple and she took it without looking at him or saying anything.  
  
He stopped trying to be nice and romantic. He knew he had to face the consequences of the words he had spat out in anger. He blinked slowly and then looked at Jen, waiting for what she had to say.  
  
But she didn't say anything. She sat there eating her apple silently. He thought perhaps she was waiting for him to start the conversation.  
  
"When I said earlier I didn't mean what I had said, I meant it," he commented, his eyes on the back of Jen's head, his hand wrapped around a pear. Jen took another bite of her apple and said nothing. "I trust you, ok? I do, it's just some of the thoughts I've had are so awful I'm ashamed of them! And I was scared you might have read them."  
  
"You couldn't have been too ashamed of them, since you didn't hesitate to yell them at my face when you thought I had read your mind," she said simply, her back still turned to him.  
  
"Jen, I--"  
  
"You accused me of reading your private thoughts, and that's not even what hurts, Alex. What hurts was the certainty in your eyes. You were so sure of what you were saying, you were certain I had violated your privacy. You were certain you shouldn't have taken me back. You were so certain of everything you said, I can't believe it." Her voice broke with the last words and her head fell as her shoulders began to shake with sobs. "You think we shouldn't be together. You doubt me, you hate me."  
  
"No," he said forcefully. "I love you, I do, I'm sure of that, I've never doubted it."  
  
"You ignored my pleadings," she said. "And I think I'll ignore yours too. You pushed me away, you said you hadn't trusted me since I got my powers, and you said I have been living in a fantasy, pretending those things in your mind weren't there." She finished her recap of the facts. Finally she turned to him, her eyes ignited with anger. He flinched physically at it, for he had been expecting pain or hurt, not anger. "Now I ask you, Alexander, what are those things in your mind I'm supposed to be pretending are not there? Why am I living in a lie according to you? What are those clues, those hints I'm supposed to be getting? It's not another woman, I know that much. It's nothing about the kids, or money. So it has to be about me. Are you tired of me? Are you starting to hate me? You don't want to be with me anymore?" She asked it finally, the great question stuck in the back of her throat: "You want us to get divorced?"  
  
Alex's eyes opened wide for a second and then he shook his head in disbelief. "I don't want us to get a divorce, Jennifer, but I don't want to be with you anymore," he admitted. She looked as if she wanted to get up and throw herself into the raging river, so he quickly added, "I can't live without you, but I can't live with you, as long as you don't snap out of it, as long as you don't wake up."  
  
"Am I asleep? Is that what you are trying to tell me?" she said. "That I'm still asleep? Since when?"  
  
"You are wide awake, Jen. This is reality. This is our reality, and the thing is, when I asked you to marry me you were a strong competent woman, you found that out yourself! Now you are a blind fearful stay-at-home and I hate that, I hate what you have become! I hate it because I see you being consumed, I see you become less and less each time and I can't do anything about it, anything but wake up to feel a bit more unsatisfied, a bit unhappier. You don't turn me on anymore, I hate your cooking, I hate your hair, I hate your clothes, I hate the way you look in civilian clothes, I hate that you don't work out anymore, I hate you, Jennifer. I hate what you've turned yourself into and I'm getting tired of it. This isn't what I want to spend the rest of my life with, I hate this, and I always will. The reason I fell in love with you is because you were not this, but now you are. So start recovering, get back to who you were, or else, we are getting a divorce," he concluded.  
  
She said nothing; she didn't even look down, or look hurt. She just stared at him silently.  
  
"That's what I've been hiding in the back of my head all this time. That's what you have been ignoring; now you know it, and if you don't do anything about it, then I'll consider myself told that you want a divorce." Then, after taking a deep breath, he added, "And you shall get one."  
  
"I was trying to be there for you," she said. "All along I was trying to be there for you, I was trying not to leave you alone, the way you left me. I was trying to show you affection, to show you my feelings, so you didn't doubt me, so you trusted me and believed in me. I wanted to be there for you like a good wife should. But now I see that all you want is someone like you. A machine, a workaholic, someone without feelings, someone who doesn't show her heart, so neither you nor anyone can ever hurt her. Fine then. If you want me to be that woman, I will be that woman. I won't make love to you, I'll part my legs because you order me to. I won't make you dinner, I'll buy the dinner already made and I'll take it to your office before I take mine to my office where I will work all night long all alone. I won't take showers with you, I won't even share a bed with you anymore! I'll hire a great nanny for the twins, in fact, why don't we just tell the brotherhood they can keep them?! That way we can work all the time without feeling guilty! Oh, wait it doesn't matter, because we won't feel anything!"  
  
He took the chance given to him when she stopped for air and yelled: "That's not what I want either, Jennifer!!"  
  
"Then what do you want?!" she asked, her voice betraying her despair. "Please tell me exactly what you want so I can be that woman! I've been through too much to be the same, Alex. I can't be the Jen that went after Ransik. I'm different now and so are you. So please tell me who you want me to be, so I can be that woman for you."  
  
"I want you to be Captain Jennifer Scotts-Drake," he said. "Remember her? She was a strong and capable officer, she was my wife, we were just married and life was great. We had a great job we both loved and we had a life many envied. That's who I want to spend the rest of my life with. I don't want the Jennifer I met years ago. I don't want the Jennifer who broke up with me. I don't want the Jen who went after Ransik either. I want the Jen I married. You know what I have noticed? You always make these radical changes every time we see Wesley Collins."  
  
"Now we are back to Wesley Collins," she said tiredly.  
  
"Yes, we are, because that man changes you!"  
  
"That man has got nothing to do with this! Wes was nothing to me, and the second time he saw him he was married! He had a kid! I changed because Ransik killed you and then you treated me like a stranger! And then your mother tried to kill me, and her mutants tortured me and I almost died. We lost four children. I change because these things do get to me, unlike you."  
  
"You think those babies didn't get to me?! You think my mother being the evil that ruled all over the city didn't get to me? You think finding you in that stable, almost dead, didn't get to me?!" he asked back. "Now I believe you never read my mind!" he said and turned away from her.  
  
"Well, it was about time!" she yelled and threw him the heart of the apple she had been eating. Then lay down on the sleeping bag and curled into a ball.  
  
"Thanks for saving my life," he said simply and lay down with her back to her.  
  
"You are welcome." She didn't say anything else for a couple of minutes.  
  
After the silence got unbearable, he lay on his back and said, "I do have feelings, and all those things did hurt me, and I also had a hole in my heart, and black pain running through my veins, you know? But I didn't let any of those things change me, not as much as you did."  
  
"Why not?" she whispered.  
  
"Because if you let pain take over, then you'll hurt for the rest of your life and nothing will ever make you happy. If you don't, if you push it away, until it's gone, then you can be happy again, and you don't have to lose yourself in it. You can be yourself, just push the pain away, not all your feelings, just the pain. I tried to be there for you too, I offered you my love so it would help you heal. But I can't heal you; you have to do it by yourself. I'm here for you if you need me, and I always will be, my love." He kissed her shoulder and then turned again, his back to hers.  
  
Jen didn't say anything, and didn't move. She just let the tears slip down her face silently until she fell asleep. But by that time she already had made a decision.  
  
Alex laid there for few minutes, his brain thinking randomly. Right before he fell asleep it occurred to him that maybe Buda wasn't lying. That maybe he did bite one of the brotherhood's members in the hand. And if it was the case, they had a video shot of it.  
  
And a DNA sample.  
  
TBC-- 


	24. Washed Away

Chapter 24: Washed Away  
  
Jen woke up. She wondered for a second how long she had slept, because she still felt tired and drowsy. Next to her Alex was still asleep, snoring softly. She turned him on his back to silence him; he didn't wake up, which meant he was deeply asleep. Jen rubbed her knuckles against her eyes to wipe the drowsiness from them, and that's when she realized her right hand was bandaged, probably due to the tattoo she had gotten from solving the Sagittarius task.  
  
She supported herself on her left arm and sat up, looking around. The basket and the towels were still there. She sat quietly for a few minutes, thinking about the decision she had made before she fell asleep. The things Alex and she had told each other had been painful to say and to hear, especially when he had said he hated what she had become, because that thing he hated so much was what she was at that moment, and if he hated it, he hated her.  
  
But she didn't want to lose him or their family, of that she was sure. So she was willing to change, she was willing to be the woman she was before, she would show Alex just how far she was willing to go for them, for their love and for their family.  
  
She got up and walked towards the towels. She took off her shirt and her pants, the same she had been wearing for days now, and her underwear; then released her hair from the ponytail and combed it with her fingers softly, then looked at the river, which now was moving considerably slower, and noticed she could see the bottom as if it was a pool. The water was clean and perfectly clear and she wondered, amazed, how the brotherhood could make and keep all these marvelous things.  
  
She calculated the risks of jumping into the river-turned-pool, and realized it was worth it. She jumped in naked and swam for a little while. Climbing out of the water, she looked inside the basket and found some soap.  
  
"Soap?" she asked quietly. "One would think they don't want that clear water contaminated." She laughed softly at the idea, remembering soap was no longer contaminating. "Twenty-first century flashback, Jennifer," she mocked herself.  
  
Returning to the edge, she grabbed a towel and jumped in the water. She put some of the soap on the towel and used it as a sponge, rubbing her skin with it until it felt clean enough. She swam a bit more to get the soap all off. She liked swimming in the cool water and she didn't feel remotely drowsy anymore. After getting out of the water and drying off with another towel, she summoned fresh clothes from the glove's compartments: black sweat pants and a white tank top. She put on fresh underwear and the clothes. Summoning a pair of regular scissors, Jen combed her hair with her fingers the best she could and got ready to start cutting it.  
  
"Wait."  
  
She jumped, startled, and turned around to find Alex wide awake, getting up from the sleeping bag. "Let me do it for you," he offered. She nodded silently and handed him the scissors when he reached her. "Why do you want to cut it?" he asked.  
  
"It's too dry."  
  
"Oh." Without any other comments he ran his fingers through her hair and then took a strand between his fingers. "How short?"  
  
"Right above the shoulders, please," she answered.  
  
"I'll do my best," he promised and got to work, cutting about six inches of her hair. When he was done she looked at him over her shoulders and thanked him simply, then walked towards the basket and reached inside for something to eat.  
  
He stared at her for a minute, a strand of her hair still in his hand. He put the scissors by the towels, stripped and jumped into the water. Eating some bread, Jen looked at him silently, not even looking excited or happy at the sight of her naked husband. He had to admit to himself he felt a little sad about it.  
  
Alex kept taking a bath of his own; Jen was taking big gulps of a bottle when he looked at her after a couple of minutes. He climbed out of the water and dried his skin thoroughly, finally putting on some fresh clothes as well, that matched his wife's.  
  
"You should shave;" Jen pointed out softly. "I hate that untidy beard."  
  
"Yes, you're right," he said and began looking for a razor in his glove's compartments. "I can't believe it, I didn't pack my razor," he moaned.  
  
"There's a blade in the basket," she said.  
  
"Thanks, but I don't have a mirror," he pointed out and walked towards her, looking for some food.  
  
Jen pulled the blade from the basket and unfolded it. "Let me do it," she offered, moving forward. Alex flinched and she sat back. "I thought you trusted me," she said.  
  
"I do," he said, perhaps too quickly.  
  
"But not enough to let me shave you?" she asked, her voice bitter.  
  
"I didn't say that," he said.  
  
"You flinched when I approached you!" Jen pointed out.  
  
"Fine," he said, moving in to grab a piece of bread. "You win, I don't trust you."  
  
"I knew that," she spat. He looked at her questioningly. "You yelled that at me, remember? You told me you hadn't trusted me since I got my powers."  
  
"What does shaving have to do with all that?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know. Perhaps you're afraid I will open your skull and read your brain!"  
  
"Jen, cut it out!" he yelled. "If you are so mad at me why did you let me get close to you? Why did you let me cut your hair?"  
  
"Because I do trust you," was her answer. She kept eating, her gaze away from him.  
  
He sat quietly, holding the bread but not eating it. Finally he managed to put in words what he felt, or close enough. "Look, Jen, the things we said were awful, they have no explanation and probably they can't be forgiven. That's the thing with words, you can't take them back and you can't forget them. There is nothing I can say that can make it go away, but hopefully we can work things out. Because I love you, baby, I do, and nothing hurts me more than seeing you mad at me, because the pain of seeing you walk away from me is still fresh in my heart. Those things I said about divorce, it won't happen, ok? I love you and I just don't want to lose you, Jennifer, please forgive me. I'm not asking you to forget what I said, just forgive me," he pleaded.  
  
"How?" she asked, trying hard to hold back tears.  
  
"I don't know," he said.  
  
"How do you do it?" she asked, looking into his eyes. "How do you melt me like this? How do you make me do and feel things I don't want to do or feel? How do you keep me from being mad at you?"  
  
"You should know," he answered. "You do the same to me." She smiled at him and he smiled back, offering her the blade. "Would you do the honors?"  
  
"Yes," she said, moving closer to him. "You need to wet your face first."  
  
"Right," he moved towards the river and wet his face then returned to her. "I'm all set."  
  
Carefully but expertly she moved the blade over his cheeks and chin, getting rid of the untidy and long beard. When she was done, she stepped back to admire her work and she was quite pleased, the hair was all gone, and he didn't have any cuts.  
  
"You see? You kept you ears, your nose and your lips," she joked.  
  
"I noticed," he said, running his hands over his face appreciatively. "Good job," he congratulated her. She smiled. "Are you still mad at me?"  
  
"Your words hurt me deeply," she said. "But you were right for the most part," she admitted.  
  
"That doesn't answer my question."  
  
"I'm not mad anymore, Alex."  
  
"Great, so now you can cut my hair," he said.  
  
"Why do you want to cut your hair?" she asked. "I like it as it is."  
  
"You do?"  
  
"Yes, you look sexy."  
  
"Thanks," he said and hugged her. She hugged him back, tightly.  
  
"Have something to eat," she said. He nodded and they sat by the basket.  
  
They sat and Alex pulled out a bottle, uncapped it and smelled the contents. "Peach juice," he said with a grimace. "I hate it."  
  
"I love it!" Jen said, jumping up and taking the bottle from his hands. "You can have the orange juice," she said handing him the bottle she had been drinking from.  
  
"Thanks," he said as Jen took a long gulp of her juice.  
  
"How can you dislike peach juice?"  
  
"It's bitter!"  
  
"It's not! It's delicious."  
  
"I'm always left with a horrible aftertaste," he pouted. He took a bit of his bread and she imitated him.  
  
Jen found the letter the brotherhood had sent and read it aloud, for it was full of praise for her performance during the Sagittarius task. It didn't include any clues for the next task, and they both feared it might turn out like Taurus. They finished getting everything out of the basket; it included, once again, wine and chocolate.  
  
"Wine and chocolate again," Alex said appreciatively.  
  
"Yeah. Makes you wonder what they're doing," she said. "Maybe they want us to get drunk?"  
  
"Maybe," he said. "I'll put this away in the gloves, just in case we need them later."  
  
"That's ok."  
  
They ate some more for about fifteen minutes. It wasn't until the bottle of peach juice was almost empty that Alex noticed something was wrong with Jen.  
  
"I'm going to wash my hands," she said, showing him her hands in a childish, uncoordinated way. Then she got up, with the same brusque motions, as if she had lost coordination. She swayed dangerously when she stood and Alex jumped to hold her and keep her from falling.  
  
She looked at him as if she had just noticed he was there, and smiled. "Hey there, handsome." She moved her face closer to his ear and whispered, "Where have you been all my life?"  
  
"Right by your side," he said.  
  
"Of course, right by my side, because you never abandoned me, did you? Have you forgotten how you abandoned me?!" her talking was slow and thick, as if she could hardly move her tongue.  
  
"Jen, are you ok?" he asked concernedly.  
  
"Ok? How can I be ok?! I'm not ok, I'm miserable because you abandoned me, you left me there to die without you. You wanted that monster to kill me, that's why you never helped me, you abandoned me and I have to do it all myself, and it hurt because I let pain get to me," she then broke into a sudden torrential cry. "I let it all in me! I let the pain win! I'm so weak! I'm so sorry, Alex. I tried, I tried hard to save her, but it was too much to fight against!"  
  
"Jennifer, what's wrong with you?"  
  
"Everything! I'm so sorry, Alex, I'm so sorry," she threw her arms around his neck and cried as if someone had died.  
  
He hugged her for a while and then pushed her back. She swayed, unable to stand on her own, and he showed her two fingers. "How many fingers do you see?"  
  
"Four?" she asked before she almost fell face down.  
  
Alex grabbed her with both arms and looked at her. "Jennifer, what's wrong baby, how do you feel?"  
  
"Dizzy," she answered and he moved out of the way in the precise moment she threw up.  
  
"Oh, my god, Jennifer!" he said while she lay back against his body. "You're drunk!"  
  
To be continued. 


	25. Aries I

Chapter 25: Aries I  
  
"No, I'm not!" she denied thickly, sounding hurt.  
  
"Yes, you are!" he insisted. "Here, sit down for a while." He guided her to the floor and she obeyed. Then he picked up the bottle and smelled the contents one more time. He couldn't smell anything different, except perhaps that it smelled a bit more acrid than usual, when he tasted the contents he also felt the flavor was a bit bitterer. "They put alcohol in the peach juice, because they knew you wouldn't notice, and probably knew I wouldn't touch it," he concluded.  
  
Turning around for any indication of what to do next, he noticed something different in the room, but it took him a few seconds to discover what it was. The tunnels were now switched, and the tunnel he had gone through the first time, and that had been blocked by a slide, was now free, while the other was blocked with rocks.  
  
"Jen, come on, we have to pack and get walking," he said without looking at her, but he only got a loud snore for an answer. Lowering his gaze, he discovered his wife was asleep, sprawled on the floor, with her mouth wide open. He tried to hold back, but a snort and a laugh escaped him at the sight of Jen drunk.  
  
Deciding to leave her there, he summoned a flashlight and headed towards the tunnel, but in the entrance he found an inscription he remembered seeing and ignoring the first time he went through that tunnel. It said: "Bring your companion."  
  
He backtracked, packed the food and the sleeping bags, and then soaked a towel in the river water and put it on Jen's face, hoping the cold water would wake her up and keep her alert.  
  
She opened her eyes, startled, and looked at him, confused. "What is it?"  
  
"Come on, we have to go," he said.  
  
"Go where?" she asked, still confused.  
  
"Through the next tunnel."  
  
"I'm tired, I think I'll wait for you here." She closed her eyes again, but he shook her awake.  
  
"That's not possible, honey, we have to go together, and it has to be now."  
  
"Let me sleep for a while," she begged.  
  
He pondered the possibilities and agreed. "An hour," he said. She wasted no time in falling asleep again.  
  
The basket was still there, and he double-checked it, looking for instructions, but there were none. The letter Jen had read was still there, and it only said they should beware the bad traits of Sagittarius, while embracing the good ones, such as honesty and optimism. The Brotherhood also congratulated them on completing their fifth task, said Jen had been excellent at solving it, and also congratulated Alex for being such good bait, although he knew better what they meant. They had given him a series of instructions in the previous letter that had started with the phrase: 'Don't read this out loud'. He put the letter back in the basket and sat down, then summoned Buda.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Buda, when you said you bit one of the members of The Brotherhood, did you mean that? Or were you exaggerating?"  
  
"I did bite him," Buda assured.  
  
"So perhaps you have a DNA sample of the subject? Perhaps epithelial cells in your teeth?"  
  
The robot took a few seconds to answer. "I did. I have analyzed them." His voice was that of someone who wants to put the topic away as if it wasn't important.  
  
But Alex wasn't going to let go. "And?"  
  
"Well, it was female."  
  
"And?"  
  
"I have nothing to run it against!" the mouse complained.  
  
"Run it against the marks you have predetermined," Alex ordered.  
  
"What for? It's just you, Jen and the other Rangers."  
  
"Just for the sake of it, go on," the human ordered.  
  
Buda took a couple of minutes to do as he was asked, and then looked at Alex, almost amazed. "You are not going to believe this."  
  
"Try me."  
  
"The sample is female. And it came out close family to Jen."  
  
"Close family to Jen? But her mother is dead, and she has no sisters that I know of."  
  
"Maybe she did have one, but her parents didn't want to go through these tasks to save her and instead let The Brotherhood keep her?"  
  
Alex looked at Buda with a disbelieving face for a second, then nodded and changed his expression. "It's a theory. And what about your video recorder, do you have anything on tape?"  
  
"I probably did, but they erased it, they erased the whole thing."  
  
"That's ok, it's not your fault." They both fell silent, while Alex tried to add up the clues given to him so far about the new task. "Jen is drunk and we got wine and chocolate in the basket again. It's not much." After a few seconds, he told Buda, "Last time we got wine we asked Tao to look it up for us, wine and Heracles, and he said something about a centaur?"  
  
"Centaurs, in plural," Buda corrected. "During the task of the Erymanthian Boar."  
  
"What happened that time, again?"  
  
"It was Heracles' third labor: track down, capture and bring back the Erymanthian Boar; the boar had to be alive, to make the task a bit harder. The travel was long and towards Mount Erymanthius, so Heracles decided to visit his friend Pholus, who was a centaur. Pholus was kind enough to cook meat for Heracles but when he asked for wine, Pholus said they only had one jar, property of all the centaurs, because it had been given to them by Dionysus. Heracles told Pholus not to worry and convinced him to open the wine jar. The smell of the wine was very strong and all the centaurs smelled it and attacked Heracles and Pholus angrily for violating the present. The centaurs were armed with rocks and sticks, and Heracles used his bow and his poisoned arrows to defend himself. The centaurs, trying to protect themselves from the arrows, hid in the cave where Chiron, Heracles' teacher, lived. In his attack Heracles failed to notice he had shot Chiron, who as an immortal didn't die but suffered from terrible pain for a very long time until he gave up his immortality in favor of Prometheus, and died to get rid of the pain. Pholus also perished by one of Heracles arrows."  
  
"What happened then?" Alex asked.  
  
"Well, I guess you must be wondering when the Erymanthian boar enters the picture, and it's right now. After killing his friends, Heracles, full of remorse, returned to his journey, to complete his task. He sought out the Erymanthian Boar, driving it from the forest, up to the snow-covered peaks, where he chased it until it weakened. The boar fell into a large snow- drift, Heracles pounced on it, tightly binding it's feet and then threw it over his shoulders and returned home with it, when he showed it to King Eurystheus. He became frightened and asked Heracles to remove the beast from the throne room. In other versions, Heracles used a net to trap the beast and carry it back to the king."  
  
"That doesn't explain why they got Jen drunk."  
  
"Because of the centaurs; they were known for their drunkenness, and were worshippers of Dionysus, the god of wine."  
  
"So now I know what to expect: arrows, snow and nets, with Jen in that condition." He let out a sigh, then clapped his hands and got up. "It'll be hard, but I can do it. I just need to find a way." Both, human and robot, thought for a while about what Alex could do. After a few minutes, Alex let out a chuckle and looked at Buda. "She's going to hate me for this, but she could be my boar."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I could tie her extremities and throw her over my shoulder, and carry her around."  
  
"The only problem with that is your back and all the damage you could add to what it's already suffering from."  
  
"Yeah, you're right. Not to mention I may need to move fast. I need another option, and it has to be quick."  
  
"You know what to do," Buda said simply.  
  
"Yeah, I have to wake Jennifer up, and force her to stay awake and drag her with me."  
  
"What are you waiting for?"  
  
"I said I'd let her sleep for an hour, and I'm going to keep my word."  
  
"It's wasting time."  
  
"No, I need Jen a bit more aware."  
  
"The more you let her sleep--"  
  
"The more aware she will get. I'll give her some coffee when she wakes up; Dad packed the coffee maker." Then, with a bitter tone he added, "One would think he'd pack a razor."  
  
While he waited for the hour to pass, Alex made some coffee, and then, after pouring a cup for himself, he asked Buda to find the picture of the babies the brotherhood had provided. He stared at them silently, and a small smile crept onto his face. They were going to get their children back, and they were going to hear them call them 'mommy' and 'daddy'. He was going to play baseball with them, and maybe even soccer. Together, Jen and he could teach them martial arts, even. Perhaps one of them would like science, and he could share his other passion with that one, computers, natural science and history. Jen liked math, so that was something else to share with them. When they got the babies back they were going to spend a day at the park, and then they were redecorating their room. And of course, throw a welcome back party.  
  
He felt very optimistic about getting the twins back, and had so many plans for the family. He turned his head and saw Jen, still asleep. He moved towards her and kissed her forehead. She stirred but didn't wake up. He caressed her hair and kissed her cheek. "I love you so much." She moaned softly. "Wake up now, baby, your hour is up." She turned her back to him and kept sleeping.  
  
He ran his fingers through her hair and then down her back and up her arm, accompanying his caresses with tender kisses around the head and cheek. "Wake up, sleepy head."  
  
"No," she finally groaned.  
  
"Come on, I made you coffee."  
  
"I don't want coffee."  
  
"You can't sleep any longer, honey, we have to go on."  
  
"Five more minutes."  
  
"It's not going to happen."  
  
Against her desires, she opened her eyes and turned on her back to look at him. "I'm still dizzy."  
  
"You are still drunk," he said, brushing his lips against hers. "But don't worry, we will soon enough turn that into a hangover!" He helped her to her feet and offered her some coffee.  
  
"Where did you get the coffee from?"  
  
"Dad packed the coffee maker."  
  
"He packed us appliances?"  
  
"Camping appliances."  
  
"Good to know." She drank the coffee slowly, and after emptying a cup, demanded a refill.  
  
"Here you go."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
After she drank the coffee, she claimed to be feeling a little better, although her head was killing her. Alex said he understood and gave her a pill. They walked towards the tunnel and lit their flashlights.  
  
After walking for a couple of minutes in the rocky cave, they spotted a corridor, now covered in marble. On both sides, what seemed to be an army of centaurs stood, carved halfway out of the wall, as if their hind legs were behind the rock. Alex didn't stop to look at them, for the darkness and the silence had scared him and he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Cautiously, they walked into it, looking in all directions, Alex's senses at full alert, Jen as alert as she could be. Jen held Alex's arm, and he took her hand in his, grasping it strongly.  
  
"I don't like it," Alex said, as his steps echoed in the corridor.  
  
"Me neither, I thought we already had gone through the Sagittarius task," she said.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"The centaurs in the walls are holding tensed bows, as if they were about to shoot us."  
  
Alex looked attentively at the carvings and discovered it was true; the carved centaurs were looking at them with angry and cruel expressions, like the ones in the face of those who seek revenge, their muscular arms tensing their bows to the maximum and aiming their arrows towards him and his wife. The expressions of the centaurs were so terrible, Alex felt his breathing become short and shallow, and Jen shaking by his side. Suddenly he held his breath for a second and then sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?"  
  
"Yeah, it smells like wine." She looked at him and asked, "What does it mean?"  
  
"I'll tell you what it means," he said as they heard a clatter behind them approaching fast. "RUN!!"  
  
They broke into a run as the centaurs on both sides of the corridor began shooting arrows at them in order, first the ones by the entrance and then the rest, getting closer and closer to the couple. Alex ran as fast as his legs could carry him, and he dragged Jen, who responded to his tugging by running at top speed herself. They were so desperate to escape the arrows they didn't notice where they were going, until the floor ended and they fell with two startled gasps.  
  
The temperature of what they landed on wrapped around them like a straight jacket and began immediately pressing against them and against their brains the second they sank into it as if it were quicksand.  
  
But it wasn't quicksand.  
  
It was snow.  
  
To be continued... 


	26. Aries II

Chapter 26: Aries II  
  
It took them a couple of seconds to understand what was going on. Alex snapped out of the paralysis produced by the cold and looked at Jen. She was shaking and her lips were bluish. "Jen, we have to move!" he choked out, realizing he was trembling too, and barely feeling his feet and hands. He looked around and found a large net that led upwards, towards what seemed to be an exit "Do you see the net in the opposite wall?"  
  
Jen turned around clumsily and saw it. "It's too far," she said, scared. The net was about six feet from them and it fell down onto the snow from a hole in the wall that was about twenty-one feet above their heads. "We can't do this," she said, burying her face in Alex's chest. The effects of the alcohol had disappeared completely, but the effects of the cold were taking their place. She found herself less capable of focusing. Alex's body was shaking violently, trying to generate the heat it needed; her body was doing the same.  
  
They were sunk in the snow up to their chests; Jen felt the cold sinking into her breasts, making them hurt badly; her nipples were so hard she felt they were going to fall off. Alex put an ice-cold hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him, fear showing in her eyes.  
  
"We are going to get out of this," he assured her in a thick voice, pronouncing each word slowly and taking a deep breath between them. "We have to summon the robots, and then the laser guns. Our best chance is to open a path towards the net, and once we are there, get something warmer to wear." His voice was now a rushed whisper and he had stopped trembling, which worried him instead of calming him. If he remembered correctly, that only meant he had gone from mild hypothermia to moderate. After that came severe, and when it did neither he nor Jen would be able to move.  
  
He tried to summon Buda from his glove but his fingers didn't obey his orders; he could barely feel them, much less coordinate them properly. Jen wasn't having much better luck with hers. "Let's move then, push the snow away with your hands and feet. Let's try to climb out of the snow a bit," he said.  
  
"OK," she tried to say but her voice failed her. Not only her voice, her brain seemed to be shutting off. She lost temporarily her sense of orientation and looked at Alex to ask him where they should go, but instead the words that left her mouth were: "What time is it?"  
  
Why had she just asked that? It wasn't what she wanted to know. Alex seemed to understand, because he grabbed her hand and tugged her towards where he was, about a foot ahead of her. When had he moved?  
  
"Jen, where are you going?" he asked.  
  
"Me?" she asked. She tried to say 'You are the one who moved,' and instead said "the bathroom," apparently her brain wanted to keep things simple.  
  
"The bathroom?" Alex asked. His brain was numbing too, and they were too far from the net still. He focused on getting to the net, with or without Jen. If he got there, he could get a coat and come back for her. If they both froze, there would be nobody there to save them, or their children.  
  
Jen fought against the snow with poorly coordinated movements, but got to where Alex was. He was moving clumsily too, his face contorted with pain after each movement. Jen noticing her skin was burning too, her arms and hands felt barely there but she had also focused her brain on reaching the net. One of the many unconnected and random thoughts that had crossed her mind was, 'I promised him I would change back. I promised I'll be strong.'  
  
Alex had stopped moving, he was staring at the net, which was barely three feet from them now. His stare was absent. She got to him and slapped him softly, hurting her hand more. He looked at her, as if he had snapped out of a trance. "Move," she ordered, although it sounded more as if she had imitated a dog barking.  
  
He nodded slowly and tried to move his legs, but they were trapped in something. What was it? Right, the snow. The snow was cold. The net was warm, he had to get to it, he had to get to the snow. Not the snow, the net. His brain was shutting down slowly. The net. He heard himself whisper it. "The net."  
  
"Move, Alex, please," Jen whispered, barely moving her tongue. She grabbed his arm and tried to tug him towards the net, but he didn't move. She kept moving on her own. If she got to the net she could find a way to warm herself and rescue him. She was so close. So close. And the room was so dark. And it was moving.... the net was so close. And so black...  
  
Alex closed his eyes and focused his energy. He began pushing the snow away weakly. He moved towards Jen, his brain starting to work again, but very slowly. Much more slowly than it had shut down. He moved towards Jen, and was almost by her side when she lost consciousness and fell face down in the snow. "No," he barked. He tried to shake her, to yell her name, but his voice didn't come, his hands didn't grab her. He kept pushing the snow away, but it didn't let him get to her. The snow was their enemy, their new enemy; it was stopping him, holding him back while it asphyxiated Jen. The snow was too strong, too powerful for him.  
  
But it was just snow! How could snow defeat him? How could men be so weak against something so dead as snow? He couldn't struggle to defeat the snow, because the snow was dead, it would not fight back. He kept moving towards Jen, parting the snow to his sides, until he reached her. Her face was red, for the cold had burnt her skin and she appeared dead. But she wasn't. A part of Alex's mind told him she was alive, but not consciously. He knew she was breathing, but not much and he had to get her out of the cold before she died.  
  
He dragged Jen with him as he moved towards the net, and it seemed to take him forever to reach it. There was a moment when he thought he wasn't even moving closer to it and he realized he wasn't. He realized his body had stopped moving and he forced himself to move again and drag Jen with him. Finally he wrapped his arm around the net and felt its warmth. It wasn't hot, just warm. He grabbed it with his other hand and, leaving Jen at the bottom, he climbed up, feeling warmer. He opened his eyes and saw some very small holes in the wall that were shooting warm air towards him. He lay against the net and smiled as he felt his body get warmer and his brain get sharper.  
  
"Jen!" he said after a minute. He had left her in the cold snow. Now that he could move his fingers better, he summoned a pair of protective gloves and a blanket which he hung on one of the net's holes, and climbed down, after putting the protective gloves on. He went low enough to grab one of Jen's arms and pull her upwards towards him. He was very tired, but he couldn't leave her there in the cold to die. He pulled her towards him with a strength he didn't think he had and finally had her cold, bluish and dead- looking body close to his. He put her against the ropes the net was made of, where the warm air could get to her first, and pulled the blanket down from where he had left it. He put Jen's arms through the net's holes so they could hold her up while he wrapped the blanket around both their bodies.  
  
"Come on, Jen, wake up," he begged her, brushing the hair from her face with a trembling hand. He was shivering again, that was a good sign. Jen's chest rose and fell in deep breaths suddenly, and she began shivering. "Good, honey, come on, wake up!" he ordered.  
  
She opened her eyes, and saw the wall in front of her. There was warm air blowing towards her, and something warm on her back. It was so warm, so much better. "So warm," she whispered. She felt a sigh by her ear and turned to see Alex's face smiling at her. His lips were no longer bluish, but they were torn in several places, as if they were very dry.  
  
"Yes, it's much better now," he agreed. "Come on, we have to climb."  
  
"Right," she said. She realized the things covering her were Alex's body and a blanket. "We need another blanket," she stated.  
  
"You take this one, I'll be fine," he said.  
  
"No, you take it."  
  
"You got much colder than me, take the blanket," he said, moving towards one side and holding the blanket in his hand for her.  
  
"Really, I'm fine," she insisted.  
  
"You've been very strong, you've put up with the cold much longer than I did, I'm proud of you," he assured her. "Now take the blanket and climb."  
  
She took the blanket and wrapped it over her back, with his help. With a last look towards him she began climbing, while he followed her closely. The higher they moved, the warmer it got and when they reached the opening above they felt much better, although they were still tired and hurt. She got into the corridor and summoned another blanket while Alex followed her.  
  
He moved towards her and she wrapped the blanket over his shoulders offering him a smile. They collapsed against the wall about three feet from the opening and she slid her blanket under his to share it with him, and he threw his over her shoulders too. She hugged him, her head on his shoulder. He kissed her hair and closed his eyes, leaning against the wall. She kissed his neck and pressed herself tighter against his body.  
  
He hugged her tighter in response. She caressed his chest and whispered. "You know what?"  
  
"You love me?" he asked.  
  
"No, not that," she said matter-of-factly. "We just got over your sign."  
  
"Yeah, you're right, Aries," he said. "I hadn't noticed."  
  
"It wasn't that hard," she said. "I wish it was this easy to dodge your arrows and put up with your coldness."  
  
"Are you picking a fight again?" he asked, with a joking voice.  
  
"Just stating the facts," she answered.  
  
"So you think I shoot arrows and act cold?"  
  
"You do. That's why it's a fact."  
  
"Jennifer, I feel a lot of love and pride for you right now, don't blow it."  
  
"OK," she said. After a few seconds she added. "Alex?"  
  
"Yeah?" he answered drowsily.  
  
"I was joking. You used to be like that but you have changed a lot."  
  
"I guess the civilian life has done some good for me too, huh?"  
  
"It has helped in some things, yeah," she agreed. "But it's the military life that makes your eyes shine with a life of their own."  
  
"Yours too."  
  
"Yeah. Civilian life hasn't done much for me, has it? It was just a good hiding place," she said. He chose not to comment on that. "Good thing it's over now," she added after half a minute.  
  
"The task?"  
  
"The civilian life," she said surprisingly. He didn't react at that moment. He just hugged her tighter and caressed her hair the way he knew she loved it.  
  
To be continued... 


	27. Remember Where You've Been

Chapter 27: Remember where you've been.

Jen didn't knew if it was Alex's caress on her hair or an action by The Brotherhood what made her fall asleep, but the fact was she had fallen asleep.

Next to her, Alex was asleep too, his face relaxed, his hand bandaged, just like hers. The tattoo of Aries was made in red ink, and it was near Sagittarius, on her right hand.

She looked up at the ceiling of the tunnel where they had ended up after passing the task of Aries and she could have sworn she heard something that sounded like the sea, waves coming to the shore.

After a few minutes, she stopped paying attention to the sound and her mind drifted off in thoughts about the past four years of her life and everything she had been through, and how she had ended up being so different to whom she used to be before.

When she had first arrived at Time Force she had felt out of place. She had grown up in the country and wasn't used to cities or the people that lived in them. And of course, Time Force training wasn't exactly a walk in the park, until Alex had entered the picture.

Alex had suddenly made all the bad things go away. With Alex training was easy, paperwork was fun, the city was less gray and the people seemed nicer all of the sudden. In Alex she had a friend and a companion, someone to trust, to learn from, and to love, eventually.

It had gone well, and after the past four years it felt like a lifetime ago.

It started to come down when Ransik escaped from her unit when they were taking him to the prison. Jen had never felt as ashamed of herself as she was that night, not to mention she had never felt so scared and pained. She had had several burns and she was sure a few bones had broken, but all of that would be replaced by an even greater pain: Alex blowing up in a ball of fire and Ransik laughing.

The mutant had been laughing as if it was very fun to see the man Jen loved burn down. Alex had fallen on his face, demorphed and called out for her. She had immediately run to him, turned him over and put his head on her lap, repeating his name over and over, as if that action would heal him.

He had offered her his morpher and instructed her into following Ransik. He had made her promise she would catch him no matter what, and then he had fainted. At the moment she had thought he was dead, and had fought the paramedics trying to move her away from him. In that hectic moment she didn't realize he wasn't just giving her his morpher and his mission, he was also giving her his trust, and he was telling her, in a sort of bizarre and indirect way, that he thought she was ready to go on by herself.

Then she had gone to the past and fought Ransik and his mutants for a while, had started that relationship with Wes she had confused with love and then Alex had come back. She had never really understood his attitude back then and he had never explained it properly, but she guessed it had something to do with jealousy.

Then the hardest moment of her life, when she had made the biggest and most painful decision of her life, and had broken the engagement with Alex, looking into his eyes to see pain like she had never seen in them before, and thinking, for a brief moment that she had made the wrong choice and that she had to take it back. She knew she would have taken it back if Alex had asked her not to leave him, If only he had told her he loved her and needed her; she would have taken the ring back in a second. But he hadn't ask her not to leave him, she didn't know if it was out of pride or out of respect for her decision, but he had just moved away, not even looking at her eyes and the only thing he told her was to take the megazord and use the jet mode. She had felt so sad and broken hearted for it.

Then the craziness of telling Wes she loved him; which she had been trying to forget it for a while, but then she had admitted it hadn't been that crazy, she was just sticking to her substitute. She hadn't told Wes she loved him, she had told Alex she loved him but she didn't dare to say it to him in person, not after the way he had just walked away from her.

She had gone back home and had cried for Wes, for herself, for Alex and basically for everything else for a few months. The counseling she was going through only helped realized she was an idiot and had broken up with the love of her life, and just then Alex had begun treating her like trash. He ignored her, scolded her, told her off, shut her up in front of others, humiliated her and basically everything else he could come up with to hurt her, including dating Brynn.

The first time she had seen him making out with Brynn she had almost died. She hadn't noticed Alex had a new girlfriend, and he treated Brynn like she was the hottest thing on the face of the earth and he just couldn't keep his hands off her. He kissed her publicly, they had been seen quite lusty in public areas and every time Jen heard something about that she just wanted to jump off a bridge.

Her powers had helped her relieve some of the pain in her sleep. She felt she couldn't live without Alex by her side and she just dreamt of him loving her like always. Then Brynn had turned out to be one of the Mistress henchmen, and then The Mistress had turned out to be Alex's mother and things had gotten out of hand for a while.

Jen had slept for about a month after she was severely injured after the first showdown with Alex's mom, but then everything had turned out the way it was supposed to. She and Alex had gotten back together and had gotten married and lived happily for a year, until The mistress had showed up again, this time intending to kill Wes's wife in the past.

That hadn't been a piece of cake, because Jessica Collins (and her twin sister Josephine Simmons) were Jen's doubles and that had carried a series of problems, added to the attempt of murder.

Everything had turned out sort of well, except Jen had asked Alex to quit the Time Force because she was sick of it. She had been seriously injured again and had lost yet another child to the dangerous mission.

Alex had agreed and they had begun their civilian lives and had had their beautiful twins, who had been kidnapped and now they had to rescue.

Jen admitted she had lived more in those four years than she had her entire life, and as she saw Alex lying next to her, his face relaxed and content, she admitted she missed that fast pace of life, she missed living a lot of interesting things in one year, rather than living a lot of years just to have one interesting thing. She wondered if Time Force would take them back, and all the training they would have to go through again.

Alex stirred and Jen smiled, looking at him.

"Good morning," she said.

"Morning," he grumbled, his eyes still closed. "I'm so hungry"

"Me too, but I haven't checked if we have a basket this time," she admitted. "I just woke up myself,"

"That's fine," he said, sitting up slowly. He grimaced and whispered: "My back is killing me"

"Do you want me to get you a pain killer?"

"That'd be good, Honey, thanks," he said. Jen sat up and began exploring her glove's compartment for the first aid kit while Alex moved, very slowly and carefully, towards the basket with food they got.

"I have it injected baby, do you mind?" she asked.

"No," he said, lying over his chest on the floor. Jen couldn't suppress a giggle when he pulled down his pants and exposed his bottom to her.

"What are you doing?" she asked

"I have proved that intramuscular painkillers are more effective on my back if I inject them in my buttocks. So knock yourself out,"

Jen began giggling uncontrollably. "I'm sorry," she said when he looked up at her, his face dead serious.

"You think my back pain is funny?" he asked.

"No, I think your buttocks on plain sight are funny,"

"Like you've never seen my buttocks before," he said hiding his face between his arms again.

"Sorry," she said simply and proceeded to inject the medication, while Alex hissed in pain. "Painful?" she asked.

"Yes," he pouted.

Jen removed the syringe and kissed his buttock where the red spot of blood was now forming. "My poor baby," she cooed, caressing his back softly, pushing the shirt towards his neck and kissing his scar tenderly, caressing his entire spine with her nose.

"Well, that is what I call a pain killer," he said softly. Jen smiled and kissed the back of his neck.

"Do you want a massage?" She asked.,

"Please!" he agree eagerly. She giggled and removed his shirt.

"Ok, take a deep breath now," she said, and began guiding him through a relaxation exercise his doctor had taught her as she began caressing his muscles to relieve them from the tension.

When she was done she replaced the shirt and he sighed happily. "That was really good, Jen. Thank you,"

"You are welcome, now let's eat, we have delayed it for an hour. My stomach is making funny noises," she said.

"I second the motion," The moved towards the basket and opened it. Inside there was the most unlikely meal of them all: four cheese burger with fries and onion rings, salad, bread, fried chicken and juices of various fruits.

"Burgers!" Jen asked.

"A Cheese burger actually has the right proportions of all the food groups,"

"Except for the sugar," she said.

"Ketchup actually has high levels of glucose, so they are all there"

"I had never thought of it that way,"

"The funny thing is when they tried to ban all the 'junk-food' they discovered it can be a very balanced meal if eaten the right way and in the right amounts,"

"Well, while I find fascinating all of this, I'm hungry." She said and grabbed one of the burgers, immediately starting to eat it.

"Me too," he said and began eating a burger himself.

While eating her burger with one hand, Jen took out the letter they usually got.

"Congratulations on once again making it out alive, this time from Aries," She began reading with her mouth full. "So nice of them, we are so honored," she said sarcastically. Alex snorted. She sighed and kept reading. "Your next task is for the Cancer, and this journey will take you to the island of Erytheia, to retrieve the precious cattle of Geryon. Until next time."

"Well, that was shorter than usual," He said, grabbing another burger, now he had finished the first one.

"The Cattle of Geryon, Let's have Buda and Tao researching that," Jen said, summoning Tao, while Alex summoned Buda and smeared his entire officer glove with grease and mayo.

"Aw, great!" he said, grabbing a napkin to clean it up.

Tao and Buda stood on their rear legs and looked at Jen attentively. Jen caressed Tao's head softly, and then Buda's. "I need you guys to research The Cattle of Geryon, please," she ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," they both said and got to it.

Alex and Jen finished eating, packed the extra burger, the salad, the fries and the onion rings in their food compartment, along with the chocolate and the wine, and decided to star walking.

After a few minutes the sound of Waves coming to the shore became louder and they both fell silent from their light conversation, enjoying the sound. "I hope this doesn't turn out to be like that water drop," Alex said.

Jen laughed lightly. "Me too!"

But the biggest surprise was yet to come. After they took a turn they saw a long hallway, with rocky walls and sandy floor. At first they didn't noticed what was different between that particularly long corridor and the one they were going through, until Jen looked up and, open-mouthed put her hand on Alex's shoulder and pointed up.

"Wow!" Alex said marveled.

The hallway was ceiling-less. For the first time in god knew how long, Jen and Alex were seeing the sky, and were receiving the warmth of…

"Sunlight," Jen whispered.

To be continued.


	28. Watch your Mouth

Chapter 28:

"Do you hear the waves?" Alex asked, after a few moments in silence admiring the bright blue sky.

"Yes, we must be close to the shore, obviously on the surface, or close enough to it," Jen said.

"Yeah, I wonder why they are letting us be so close to an escape way,"

"They know we won't leave this place without our children, they probably don't fear we might escape," she answered.

Alex nodded, giving her reason. He looked down and commented: "The floor is sandy, we are definitely out of the caves, well, at least temporarily."

Nodding, Jen took Tao from her shoulder and asked him, "What did you find about the Cattle of Geryon?"

"It was Heracles' tenth labor. He had to get the precious cattle of Geryon and take it back to King Eurystheus court. This involved killing the sentinels-Eurythion and Orthus- who watched over the cattle and their master, and then driving the cattle single-handedly through sea and land."

"Sounds like a though job," Alex said.

"It was," Tao said. "He began crossing the Lybian desert and found the heat unbearable, so he shot an arrow at the sun angrily. Helios pleaded Heracles to shoot no more, and the hero said he wouldn't if Helios allowed him to borrow the golden goblet the god used to sail across the ocean every night. Helios granted Heracles his request. Heracles used the golden goblet to sail to the island of Erytheia,"

"Well, the sunlight we've got, and this corridor looks long anough to make us beg for the heat to stop," Alex commented bitterly.

"what happened when he got to Erytheia?"

"No sooner had he set foot on the island he was confronted by the two-headed dog Orthrus, with one huge blow from his wooden club he killed the dog. Eurythion, the herdsman, came to assist Orthrus, but Heracles also defeated him using his wooden club. The conmotion caused Geryon to spring into action, wearing his triple war gear,"

"what do you mean triple?" Jen asked.

"Geryon had three bodies, three pairs of arms and three heads; so he used three armours, three helmets, three spears and three shields," Tao explained matter-of-factly.

"Holy shit," Alex cursed under his breath, giving Jen an eloquent look. "How did Heracles defeat that monster?"

"As it happens often with Greek myths, there are two versions. In one he shot the monsters with his poisoned arrows. In the other he fought him and tore him apart in three pieces," Tao answered.

"I shudder to think…" Jen muttered, looking at Alex.

"So he defeated Geryon and brought the cattle home with him?" Alex asked.

"You wish!" Tao said derogatively. "He herded the cattle back to the ship and sailed towards Greece, but he landed in Italy, where Cacus, the fire-breathing giant stole a portion of the cattle while the hero slept, and deceived him by making them walk backwards into a cave. This deceived the hero briefly, but he discovered the deceit and killed Cacus. Just when the hero tought it was hard enough to kepe the cattle together, Hera sent a biting horsefly to scatter the cattle with its irritating bite. Last, Heracles had to fight another monster, half-woman, half-serpent, and The Hera sent a flood which made crossing the rivers impossible. However Heracles threw stones into the river until the water was shallow enough to cross. When he arrived at the court of Eurystheus, the king sacrificed the cattle to Hera, and claimed that since Heracles had received help in two previous tasks, so asked him to do two more tasks,"

"Well, I guess we know now what to do," Alex said.

"We do?" Jen asked, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Jen, look around. What are we supposed to do here but walk forward!" he said.

"Sorry," Jen said with a hurt look.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," Alex said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I was just stating the obvious,"

"You need to be careful with your tone," she said, softly, not looking at him. "It was the tone of your voice that made me sunder myself from you back in the 21st century" she confessed.

"The tone of my voice?" he repeated.

"Yes," she said. "You were harsh, derogative, cold and critical. You made us feel as if we were a bunch of useless morons. You made ME feel as if I had never done anything right, ever,"

"I made you feel what?" Alex said, stopping on his tracks. Jen didn't noticed and kept walking. "Jen!" he called after her. "Stop! Let's talk about this!"

She stopped and turned to him, her face impassive, although she seemed to be struggling to keep the mask on. "your attitude made me feel insecure of myself and my actions. Until you arrived there with all your bickering and criticizing I believed in myself and in my team. I thought I was doing the right things and I believed we were going to capture Ransik and I had the idea that I was a good leader. And then you came in, and burst my bubble," she said, still not looking at him in the eyes.

"Jen, my commentaries were never aimed at making you feel bad about yourself, or your skills. I offer you my most sincere apologies if I ever made you feel bad, or I ever made you feel less. Your job leading the rangers was much better than expected from a recently graduated cadet. You were exceptional in your leading and in your actions. My derogative voice was addressed towards Wesley Collins and anything related to him, I admit I didn't exactly like him back then, I still don't like him completely. My commentaries were supposed to be constructive criticism, and I never knew they sounded so terribly wrong. I guess now I understand why you wouldn't follow my orders, why you were all so angry at me. I admit also that frustrated me, and it made me incredibly angry, but I never meant to make any of you feel inferior, I just expected you to follow my orders, since I was the highest ranked officer, which, you have to admit, was to be expected," He looked at her and took a step forward, preparing to go from defensive to offensive. "Not to mention you have to cut me some slack, since you wouldn't follow my commands but you all fell on a beautiful straight line ad did everything Wesley Collins -who was a mere civilian- told you to do," he launched his first attack.

"We didn't do everything Wes told us to do," she yelled back.

"if Wesley Collins had told you to jump out of the clocktowers' windows you would have done it!" he accused

"And what evidence of that do you have!" she demanded angrily.

"Well, you wouldn't let me take a shot at the damned dragon, but you were willing to ride the megazord on the Q-rex back!" he said

"We were so frightened when he said he would do that!" she lied.

"really? Well you hid it very well, because according to the megazord cockpit's audio recorder you mentioned you trusted him for anything and Trip said you would all back him up until the end, so much for the 'we were frightened' bullshit!" he said. She stood there, looking at him.

"He inspired trust into us, we trusted him, we believed in him, he was our leader, you…" her voice died for a moment and she lowered her gaze. "You did the exact opposite."

"really? Well, there was time when you used to trust me and believe in me," he said. "But I guess those feelings died a long time ago. We've done terrible things to each other, Jennifer. We've been cheating each other," he whispered, walking past her.

"What do you mean?" she asked from behind his back.

"We don't belong together anymore, Jennifer, no matter how hard we try it. We love each other, and we will always have the twins after we are done with these tasks, but we should get a divorce, before we hurt each other even more, we just don't belong together," he said, looking at her over his shoulder, his face sad.

"No," she said shaking her head. "No, don't say that!"

"What am I supposed to say!" he yelled turning back at her. "we keep going back to the same problems, we keep going back to the same damn things, to the same damned time! To fucking Wesley Collins and his fucked life stealing! I am bored of fighting over the same two days Jennifer. It was just two days and they keep coming back to hunt us, to make us fight to tear us apart. We are never going to solve this problems, they will always be there, and as much as we want to have a home and a family, those two days in the 21st century will forever keep us from having what we want so badly."

"There has got to be a way, maybe if we let it all out, maybe if we…"

"WE DON'T TRUST EACH OTHER!" He bellowed. "How can we be married if we don't trust each other! How can we support each other if we don't believe in each other? I want to go back to the force, you want to stay at home—"

"That's not true! I trust you, I trust you with my life! We have worked together for years, years after that incident in the year 2001. You are stuck there! You don't see what we have now, you don't want to see that I trust you that I love you, that I believe in you! You don't trust yourself, you don't believe in yourself and you are trying to push me away from you, but I won't leave you, because I can see what we have! I cherish what we have. We went through a lot of things, a lot of painful things that involved us as a couple and us as human beings. We grew, and the love we had was too small for us. It was to young, too naïve, and it died. But we got a new one, a strong, powerful, mature one, a new love we grew from scratch. We can't apply the problems of our old love to our new one. We have issues, but not as a couple. We have issues as human beings, as individuals, and once you have realized that, we can help ad support each other as a couple, while we solve those problems," she walked towards him with teary eyes and looked up at him, her hands on his shoulders. "I'm here, I'm your wife, and you can count on me, because I will stay here forever, by your side, because I believe in you." She closed her speech with a tender kiss on his lips, that brought tears to his eyes. "Let go of those things, let go of those feelings that hurt you so much. It's the past, it's long gone and this is now! We are together, Wes married another woman, you led the Power Rangers into many victories as the black ranger. Let go Alex, so you can move on, let go, so we can be happy, let those things go, so you can be free, baby, I just want to see you free from those things that imprison you and crush, I just want you to take that dagger out of your heart, so you can stop bleeding and start healing," her voice had turned into a plea and she pressed herself against him. She held him tight, until she felt him break under her arms.

She held him, unaware of the sun that washed over their skins, hot and merciless, just like his pain.


	29. Cancer I

Chapter 29: Cancer I

After they both calmed down, Alex and Jen kept walking through the corridor under the merciless sunlight. As they walked, the sun got brighter and hotter, which led them to think it must have been around noon.

Alex was dead silent, he barely opened his mouth, and when he did it was to let out an exhausted sigh. Jen threw sideways looks at him every now and then, but she was so hot and tired she didn't really want to start a conversation she knew he wouldn't follow, so she just let him reflex on whatever it was that was keeping his mind occupied.

The sun was at it's highest point, filling every inch of the corridor with it's light and –most importantly- its unbearable heat.

Alex stopped walking and lay against one of the walls, breathing heavily. Jen stopped and lay against the wall next to him.

"You ok?" she asked.

"It's too hot," he said, summoning water from his glove, the last bottle left. "Damn! I have to economize,"

Jen checked her glove. "Me too, I only have two bottles left and I don't think this corridor will end up any time soon," she said.

"How long do you think we've walked?" he asked, throwing glances at both directions of the corridor.

"I don't know, but it's been at least three miles," she took several deep breaths, "Unless I way too out of shape,"

"No, you're fine," he said distractedly. "Remember the heat also has an influence on the runner's resistance," He hadn't even looked at her, and was talking to her in second plane, distractedly, still thinking about something else.

Jen, after drinking a couple of sips of water, put her hand on his shoulder. "Baby, are you ok? You've been distracted,"

He finally looked at her, and it was as if he was seeing her for the very first time. For a few seconds he couldn't match her face to a person. "I'm fine," he said simply, still staring at her. Finally the weird sensation of not knowing her went away, and he grabbed her hand. "I just…I just need to think,"

"Ok," she said with a smile. "Think away," with that, she kissed his cheek and moved away from the wall, to keep walking. Still looking distracted, he followed her silently.

After a few minutes later, or maybe hours they had lost track of time completely; they were blinded by flares. The bright sunlight was reflecting on a water surface that had some very small, barely there waves. The Drakes stood at the border of the water and looked at each other.

"Now what?" Jen asked, still seeing bright light dots in front of her eyes.

"I don't know," Alex said, looking around. He closed his eyes at the hurting light that reflected from the water surface, and then pressed his index finger behind his ear and summoned his shades. "Much better," he admitted. Jen, feeling a little stupid, followed his lead. Alex looked around, trying to find something that indicated how to go on. He felt a tug on his shirt and looked at Jen, who was kneeling next to him.

"Look at this," she said. He kneeled too and was able to see a ludicrously small inscription on the floor that said: "Demand Helios for the goblet." as Jen read.

"Goblet?" he repeated. "What goblet?" He said standing up.

She stood up as well. "Do you remember what Tao said about the task of the Cattle of Geryon?"

"Not really," Alex said, again looking away from her.

"He said Heracles shot an arrow at Helios because the heat was unbearable and the God begged him to stop, so Heracles demanded to borrow his Golden Goblet, which the God obliged. And let's face it, the heat is unbearable,"

"But there are no arrows here, and what good is it going to do for us to shoot an arrow at the sun? I bet Helios is not exactly going to let us borrow his golden goblet,"

"You have think symbolically!" She said cheerfully. She began fumbling with her glove. "We don't have arrows, but we do have this," she said, showing him a small hand blaster she had summoned from her glove.

"You plan to fire a laser blaster at the sun?" he asked trying, and failing, to hide a smile.

"Well, of course!" she said, aiming upwards and shooting several times.

Of course, nothing happened. "There, you wasted five perfectly good shots,"

"Do you have a better idea?" she asked angrily.

"No," he admitted, looking at the water distractedly again.

Jen began to play with her scanner just for the sake of it. After a few minutes she sucked in a sharp breath. "I don't believe it!" she said.

"What?" Alex said, throwing her a quick glance over his shoulder.

"They tricked us twice with the same trick!"

"What do you mean?"

She aimed her blaster, this time at what seemed to be an specific direction. She aimed at where the ball of the sun, the big spot that's the brightest of the sky, was. Much to Alex's surprise, something did happen this time when she shot four times.

With a loud splatter a golden boat, big enough for both of them, fell in front of them directly from the sky, as far as Alex could tell.

"Ok, where did that come from?" He asked, looking at the vehicle and shaking off the water from his clothes, for both of them had been soaked.

"I'm not sure, it was held up by four ropes, the sun hurt our eyes and forced us to close them, so we couldn't see it. Like the bars from Gemini," she reminded him.

"Oh, I see," He said, moving closer to the ship.

Inside the boat- a small boat painted gold just to keep the theatric feeling; there were two rows and enough space for both of them.

"Well, I guess we have to row to the other side" he guessed, entering . Jen got on board as well and sat, ready to start rowing.

"Where to?" she asked.

"Let's keep the same direction, and see where it takes us," he suggested.

"As good as anything," she said.

"Ready?"

"Yep,"

"Let's go," they began rowing, keeping a slow but powerful rhythm. Jen kept the count and led, while Alex simply took advantage of the monotone physical activity to continue his mute meditation.

Jen kept the rhythm steady and rowed slowly from the brightly lit water, slowly into a darker fresher environment, until they could see the other end of the pond. "Heads up, we are almost there," she said.

He snapped out of his thinking and helped her get as close as possible. They both got out of the ship, not without getting even more wet.

The harbor, if it could be called that, was made of a reddish stone, definitely not marble, but highly polished as well. It was a large squared area that ended only a few yards away in a large wall with a small hole, about the size of a door, from which a trembling multicolored light was coming out of. Over this hole there was a huge and very detailed engraving of a very ferocious looking two-headed dog: Orhtrus, the watch dog of Geryon's Cattle.

Alex pointed down at the floor, near the place where they had gotten out of the ship, where an inscription, made in golden letter over the red stone read: "Island of Erytheia."

When Jen and Alex walked closer to the wall, they could read another inscription in the red stone: "Orthrus, The two-headed Watch-Dog."

Jen looked up at the imposing and fear-inspiring dog, who's two heads were baring their teeth and his eyes were contracted in angry slits. A shiver ran down her body a the sigh of the terrifying engraving, and Alex grabbed her arms softly and indicated the door with his chin.

"We have to keep going," he said simply.

"I know,"

They both walked towards the door and the reason of the trembling multicolored light was explained at once. The floor was made of several different sized tiles that lit up in different colored patterns that changed rapidly in front of their eyes.

Alex, who had already removed his sunglasses, stared at them for a minute. Jen looked around for a clue on what to do next, but found nothing. It was Alex who spotted something interesting. "The patterns are repeating themselves," he muttered.

"What?" she asked, joining him at the door.

"The patterns of lit tiles, there are about twelve, they are repeating themselves," he explained. Jen stared at the patterns as well.

"There!" She said suddenly. "The red ones make a continuous path from here to the other side of the room," she pointed out to the opposite wall, that was about five yards away and had an opening as well.

Alex waited for the patterns to repeat themselves and nodded in agreement when he proved with his own eyes the red patterns indeed made the continuous path. Then he continued to stare at the lights, almost falling in what seemed to be a trance.

"Should we take it?" Jen asked next to him, snapping him out.

"Yes, I don't see why not," he said, moving forward, but Jen grabbed him by the arm and pushed him against the wall.

"Alex, I know you need to think, but you need to focus on the matter at hand, or we could both get hurt," she scolded.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer," he muttered, looking at the floor.

"Look, I don't know what is wrong with you, but you are taking things to the extreme. If you focus on the work, you focus on that and do nothing else. But if you can let your mind wander, then you wander around no matter what. You need to find an equilibrium, and for now, it's not about being sorry, Alexander, it's about taking action. We have to get through this and it requires all of our attention, so snap out of it and leave those thoughts you have to do for when you have nothing more important to do,"

He threw her a sad smile. "Look who's the boss now?" he joked, kissing her cheek. "Ok, so the red pattern goes to the other side, let's follow it," he said.

He waited to see which was the first red tile and put his foot in it. But when he supported all his weight in it, it gave away under his foot and his leg was submerged in a rather cool liquid. With the help of Jen he pulled his leg out and looked at the black hole, but nothing could be seen.

He moved towards Jen, who was still standing at the door and both looked at the room.

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"The colors of the patterns have changed. The red ones no longer mark the right path," she answered, not taking her eyes away from the floor. "Now it's the blue ones," she put both feet on the first blue tile and it held her weight perfectly fine. "We can't use the colors as guides, we have to learn the path by heart."

"Ok, let's do this," he said. "We can't both fit in the tiles at once, you go ahead, I'll follow you," he instructed.

"Are you letting me lead?" she asked, looking at him over her shoulder.

"You can do it," he said simply. "Go on,"

Paying careful attention at the changing patterns on the floor, and doing her best for not getting dizzy or going blind, Jen led her husband through the room of the lit tiles. Some tiles were so small she had to stand on one leg only, in others both could have stood at once, although uncomfortably. They moved faster after Jen learned the path and began to follow it without looking at the floor, although she threw glances at the lights for confirmation every now and then.

Finally she stood at the last tile and jumped out of the room, closely followed by her husband. The room where they were now was incredibly large and it was dark, except for the small square of light that entered from the previous room.

"what now?" Jen asked, and both immediately had to cover their ears for the acoustic and the echo were unbearable.

"what is this?" Alex muttered in the lowest voice he could, the acoustic of the room made it sound as if he had yelled, and the echo repeated it a dozen times.

Suddenly, the light from the previous room became less and less, a door was sliding the room where they were in shut.

They both stayed quiet, close to each other, Jen grabbed Alex's hand in fear and he drew her closer to him, holding her tight against his chest.

Then, a low light began to glow in the middle of the room and began to get brighter.

When it was bright enough, they could see a statue Geryon, the three-bodied giant, with its triple war equipment, in the middle of the room, looking fiercely at three different directions.

Then without a previous warning, it began to fall apart, with a rumble that grew, louder and louder in the darkened room. Between the acoustic and the echo, the grumble of the statue falling apart and the pieces hitting the floor grew to be as loud as the motor of an airplane.

So loud, Jen and Alex could take it and, as much as they tried to protect their ears, they were both knocked unconscious by it.

When Alex woke up, and the first thing he noticed was that the noise was over and the room was silent again. This was good news because his head was killing him, a terrible migraine making it throb painfully.

He also had a swollen spot were he had hit the floor, and he barely could open his eyes without causing more pain.

He felt a hand on his and opened his eyes the tiniest bit for the briefest of seconds to see Jen looking at him, looking just as pained. She turned to look at the pieces of the statue, and he saw a small thread of blood running down from her ear.

"Jen, your ear is bleeding," he said, and he felt the migraine disappear magically when he realized he couldn't hear his own voice, but a meaningless hum.

He was deaf.

To be continued…


	30. Cancer II

Chapter 30: Cancer II

Jen tried to talk and discovered she was also deaf. She looked at Alex, fear filling her every inch.

"I can't hear!" she said but heard nothing, she could only feel a vibration with no real meaning.

Alex took her hand comfortingly, and nodded, then winced in pain. His headache was back, and fully charged.

He fought to keep his eyes open long enough to find a something for the headache, and was very upset to discover he had nothing left.

Jen looked at him questioningly and pointed at the glove, then made a sign that he thought meant 'what?'.

"Pain killer," he mouthed slowly, watching her follow the movement of his lips. He pointed at his head and winced. She nodded and began looking through her glove. She then looked up and shook her head 'no' with an apologetic expression. He smiled at her and kissed her forehead.

Much as his head hurt, he had to admit they had work to do. He got to his feet, using every bit of self-discipline he had to ignore the migraine that was hammering against his poor brain. Jen, apparently, didn't feel to good either. They both swayed a bit when they got to their feet and grabbed a hold on each other to keep from falling down again.

Carefully sorting the bits of statue they walked towards the light, looking for a clue. They noticed that as they kept solving tasks, the Brotherhood left them less and less clues. They no longer left them letters with clues, they had to find them during the tasks.

Near the statue's base, they found the clue they were looking for, thankful to say it was clear enough. They were in no mood to solve puzzles, with their brains hurting like that.

The inscription said simply: "What has been divided, you must reunite". They understood that much, they had to put the statue back together.

Problem was the statue was broken in what seemed to be a hundred pieces that were scattered all over the room, and there was very little light. That of course not counting the headache that kept reminding them of its existence every few seconds with a terribly painful throb.

Desperate for fluid communication, Jen began using the text messaging feature of their gloves, used when secret or surprise missions required absolute silence.

"What's the plan?" she wrote him.

"Let's split, get your flashlight, the light is not enough," he wrote back.

They split and moved around the room. Alex noticed the pieces that were farthest from the base were the ones corresponding to the head, while the ones that stayed closest were the ones corresponding to the feet.

He walked towards Jen and touched her shoulder. He then wrote her: "let's start near the base, the pieces of the feet are there,"

"Shouldn't we group the pieces first?"

"It's a waste of time. The pieces pretty much fell forward, so they are sort of arranged in order. All we have to do now is figure out how to put them back together," He kneeled and grabbed a piece in his hands.

He studied it, while Jen kneeled next to him. The feeling of the surface was not rocky and he wished with all his heart he could hear the sound it made when he knocked on it.

He got up followed by his wife, to whom he dedicated a smile and a kiss on the forehead. They walked towards the base of the statue and looked around for the pieces that corresponded to the feet.

They quickly realized the statue was not as divided as they originally though and there were only thirty different sized pieces. The statue wasn't that big, it was natural-sized, about Alex's height.

He pointed at one piece that was clearly a foot and ankle and asked Jen to help him pick it up for it was rather big. The moved it closer to the base, Alex' brain working on a way to join those pieces that had no marks of ever being one large statue. There were no ridges, or indentations, nothing that indicated they were one large piece of rock at one moment. The cuts were extremely clean, the surface smooth and plain. He wondered how they had been joined together in the first place.

They brought the piece to the base, and when they approached it to the base, it pulled the piece down, probably causing a racket they didn't get to hear. The base was a magnet, and it pulled the pieces strongly against itself.

"It's a magnet!" he wrote.

She nodded. "That's how they stay together!" she wrote back.

Alex moved closer to the piece and studied it closer. What he had originally thought was stone, in reality was copper, covered by that green tarnish that was so characteristic.

They spent the rest of the day looking for the pieces and bringing them to the base, were they got stuck firmly to the others. A couple of times they had to struggle against the pieces when they put them in the wrong place and it wore them out rapidly, but the impatience for solving the puzzle and moving on; and hopefully recover their capacity to hear as well; kept them going despite the headache and the tiredness.

The pieces were very similar between themselves, but they managed to complete the puzzle that same day. When they put the final piece and completed Geryon, the light that shone over the statue began to decrease until it left them in total darkness.

With the help of his flashlight, Alex managed to summon their sleeping bag before they both surrendered to sleep.

They still couldn't communicate. They still had problems. But they were much too tired that night.


	31. Alexander, the Great?

Chapter 31: Alexander, the great?

Alex woke up slowly. His head had stopped hurting and his eyes opened to a twilit room. His wife, Jen, was lying next to him, asleep in her sleeping bag.

He sat up. He looked around and realized they were still in the room of the Statue of Geryon. His ears felt heavy, and he touched them to find protective plugs in them, he assumed to help with the healing of his eardrums.

Not having much to do, and feeling too tired to get up, he laid back into his sleeping bag and turned to face his wife. He loved her so deeply, the mere idea of losing her, of living without her was unbearable, and yet he had hurt her so much; he had caused her so much pain; he felt the best way to prove his love was letting her go.

Jennifer. He had always loved calling her by her full name, because that's how she had pronounced it when they first met. He still remembered it: he had been staring at a bunch of recruits walking past as he made his way to his office, and then he had felt his body crash against something- something that turned out to be someone.

He had barely noticed her, but a gentleman as he was, he had to stop and apologize. She stammered something and leaned in to pick up the helmet he had pushed out of her hand when they crashed, but he stopped her and leaned over to pick it up, muttering an apology himself. As he handed her helmet back, he took a closer look at her and realized she was beautiful, yet she looked sad and rather defeated. He took interest in her immediately, especially because, while she was a member of the groups of recruits he had been staring at, she had been walking alone in the opposite direction. He couldn't help but smile sympathetically at her, hoping to cheer her up a bit, and she had responded, smiling back shyly.

He had asked her name, and she had stuttered "J-J-Jennifer Scotts, sir". That had made him smile wider, he could tell she was nervous but he didn't want her to be, sohe had said his name was Alex, and had purposely left out his last name. He asked why she was so sad; she said she was going to leave the academy, because she was terrible. He said he couldn't believe that, because someone so beautiful couldn't be so bad at something. She had smiled nervously again and told him that if he knew her he wouldn't be so sure of that.

He had asked her to show her how bad she was. And she had been terrible, indeed. But only because she couldn't handle the pressure. So he had taken her under his wing and had helped her struggle, building her confidence slowly but steadily. And at some point, maybe it had been all along, he had fallen in love with her. He remembered giving her the badge at her graduation; she had looked at him, so excited, so happy. He had been saddened, his job was done, and now they would both move on, forget about each other…

But it hadn't been like that, after the graduation she had come looking for him, and had hugged him tight, thanking him for everything over and over, looking so happy, so proud, so confident. He didn't know what made him do it, but he had just kissed her. And she had looked at him so hopefully after they broke apart, he suddenly was assured she loved him too, he was sure he had always loved her, and she had always loved him and he had just been acting stupid by not asking her out before.

A year had gone by, and they had gotten more and more serious. Yet Alex had never been afraid of committing to Jen. He wanted a family, and Jen just felt like the right person to start a family with. The one person who would heal his pain instead of causing more. He decided to propose to her, because she was the one person he could trust and love until death did them apart.

His mother had thought differently. She had despised Jen for no apparent reason and had never been happy with their relationship. Yet, Alex had never cared, he still loved Jen more than his own life, and he enjoyed every minute of their time together, which was very scarce, because Alex had been entrusted with a very dangerous mission. The mission to capture Ransik.

Death had forced him and Jen apart. Ransik had almost succeeded in killing him, and that's when their moment in the sun had ended. That's when the pain had started for both him and Jen.

He had waked up from his coma to realize Jen was a thousand years in the past, trying to capture Ransik with only four more people with her. He had begun to work on weapons and help, and had begun to observe them on a daily basis. Only weeks after his alleged 'death' Jen had begun fooling around with Wesley Collins, probably just trying to ease the pain by moving closer to the closest she had to Alex. He understood that now, but back then he had slowly filled with jealousy, anger and envy.

There was no point in reliving moment by moment what had happened after. He had done it enough; the important thing was that she had broken up with him and his own anger and hurt pride, along with some bad advice cruelly handed to him on purpose and under his mother's order by a so-called friend of his, had kept him from forgiving her when she asked to be taken back. He had hurt her, tried to keep her away from him and had single-handedly undone all of their hard work together when she was at the academy. The Jen he had dated, the Jen who had captured Ransik had once again become the Jen he had crashed against. And it had all been his, Alex's, fault.

Yet, she had forgiven him. They had gotten back together and eventually gotten married. But he had hurt her. His own pride and jealousy with everything that had to do with Wesley Collins had hurt her again, and again, and again. He had to let go of her now, for her own sake.

If only he didn't love her so much. If only she had done something wrong, something so terrible he couldn't forgive her, something so awful he just couldn't bear to live with her anymore. If only he could do something terrible enough for her to push him away, if there was only something so terrible she just couldn't forgive him.

He felt so terrible. He was unworthy of Jen, unworthy of the family they had, of the happiness they shared, but how could he make her understand he was not enough for her? How could he leave his wife for no particular reason?

He sighed. Her face looked so beautiful, so mysteriously peaceful in the soft light. He loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but he couldn't. He couldn't hurt her any more, he couldn't make her miserable and force her to do things she didn't want to do any more, but he was not man enough to leave her. He wasn't man enough to do what he had to do and walk away from them before things got out of hand.

Softly, silently, he broke into a cry, still staring at her sadly through his tears. He stretched out his arm and caressed her hair, causing her to stir and open her eyes. She looked at him sympathetically for a few seconds, before she stretched out her own arm and caressed his hair.

He kept letting tears get away, as he relived scene by scene all those times he had made her cry, all those times he had made her suffer.

She moved closer to him, dragging herself on top of him. She kissed him and he realized at the moment she was crying too.

"Are you going to entrust me with what is hurting you so much, Alex? Or do I have to watch you suffer silently forevermore?" she asked, very close to his lips, and she kissed him again. "Alex, baby, please, tell me, tell me what's so wrong, tell me why you're suffering so much."

Before he could stop himself, he told her. He told her everything. He told her he was not enough for her, he was only causing the pain and suffering. He declared himself unworthy of the family they shared, he expressed his desire to leave her, so she could be happy.

But the more he talked, the harder she cried, and he fell silent, as she held him tightly.

"What's wrong with you!" she asked him tearfully. "Where do you get all those awful ideas? Alex, you have given me the best years of my life. All my good memories involve you, everything I am, I owe to you. Alex, you are The One. The one for me, I have always known it, ever since we met, please don't say you'll leave me. Please, don't even think about abandoning me, my life is with you, my happiness is with you, my peace is with you. Alex I love you, you have no idea of how much I love you. Please, please, baby," she held him so tight he was surprised at her strength. "Please don't ever leave me, because I'd die without you. What we have, we both deserve, we both worked so hard to get it and we both deserve the chance to be loved, the chance to have a family, the chance to be happy."

"I haven't done anything to earn your love, to earn our family, to earn our life together," he said. "Everything I may have done to earn it, I undid later on. I don't deserve this."

"Everything you claim to have undone, you have redone it again. You have done so much for me, for our children, for our marriage. Alex, you put your mother in jail for me, you renounced the only thing that makes you feel happy and whole for our children. And you claim you haven't done anything? You still think you haven't sacrificed enough to get what you have? Don't be stupid, Alex. Don't be stupid." She kissed him and then dried his tears. "We have earned everything we have, now we have to enjoy it. Now all we have left to do is stick together and enjoy what we have." She kissed him again softly on the lips. "You have me, and I," she wrapped his arm around her waist, "I have you. We both have our children, and a bright future ahead of us. Don't you think?"

He looked at her smiling, hopeful face, the same face she had had when he had kissed her the first time, so many years ago. A face full of hope for a future together, a happy future together that, now he thought about it, seemed more real and accurate than the one where they were apart, in his head.

He kissed her, this time, enjoying his wife to the utmost. He enjoyed the taste of her, the way her body felt trapped in his arms, the way her breathing sounded as she let the air out slowly.

He opened his eyes and found her on top of him, smiling. "Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me?" he asked her.

She beamed at him and gave him a bright smile showing him all her teeth. "Yes, you idiot. I do."

"Good," he said. "Because I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and you are right, we deserve it."

She leaned in to kiss him, caressing his hair and the sides of his head while she did it. He held her closer, his exploring hands finding the tail of her shirt and pulling it off her. She sat up to assist him and there, topless, she smiled at him.

"I missed you," she said.

"I missed you too."

"I love you."

"I love you too," he said, pulling her close and she kissed him on the cheek and the neck, moving slowly to his ear.

There she whispered, "Alex, did you notice we can hear again?" He froze for a second and turned to look at her, she was smiling brightly.

"Barely," he whispered with a smile, leaning in for another kiss, that gave way to the most passionate love-making they had had in a long time.

To be continued…


	32. Virgo

Chapter 32: Virgo

Jen woke up happier than she had been in a long time, but not exactly remembering why. Then she felt Alex's warm, naked body caressing hers all over and remembered their loving night. She smiled contently and kissed him on the chest lovingly, luxuriating at the feeling of his soft warm skin pressed against hers. She caressed his face, removing the strands of long, sleek black hair that covered it.

He took a deep breath and blinked, smiling as he caught a glimpse of her happy face through the slits of his eyes. He squeezed her tightly against his body, and kissed her forehead. She looked up and kissed him on the lips tenderly.

"Good morning," he croaked.

"Good morning," she whispered back, running her hand over his chest lovingly.

He caressed her hair with his left and noticed a sharp pain in the bandaged palm.

"Looks like we have a new tattoo," he said with a smile.

"Looks like it," Jen said, after she raised her own left hand and saw it bandaged as well. "Check if we have a basket too, I'm starving."

Alex sat up and began grabbing his clothes as he looked around. He got out from under the blankets as he said: "Yes, we have a basket, I'll get it."

Jen finished getting on her panties and her shirt and got up to put on her pants, when Alex got back to her side and sat next to her. She finished with the garment and sat back.

Alex had opened the basket and was pulling out bread, fruits and what seemed to be scrambled eggs in a thermal container, to keep them warm.

"No chocolate or wine this time," he said.

"Good thing we kept the others," she rejoiced, taking the container with the eggs from his hand. "Hmm…Eggs," she said appreciatively.

"We got a letter as well," he said, opening the envelope and unfolding the thick paper.

_Congratulations on yet another well-done task. We are also pleased to see that, coincidentally or not, you have overcome some of the bad traits brought by Cancer, like being clinging and unable to let go, moody and overemotional. We are happy to see that you have yet again reached a point of total and extreme happiness in your joint lives, and we offer our most sincere hopes that you continue to make each other happy, focusing on the now, rather than clinging to the yesterday or worrying over the future. You also have shown some interesting aspects of the 'good side' of Cancer; you are loving and protective, intuitive and cautious. _

_We congratulate you on your great achievement of putting Geryon back together; the symbolism of what you just did is incredible and shall be explained to you in due time. We are happy to see that you have, in all ways, overcome your communication problems and hope you try to keep your communication open in both ways from now on, for it will prove most useful._

_Congratulations again on overcoming Cancer and now we move on to the next sign: Parthenos. Your next task is a very interesting one, for it deals with trouble of communication, which curiously you seem to no longer have. This interesting task was Heracles' ninth and it deals with women: good, evil, generous, spoiled, loving and jealous women. Good luck._

"Parthenos?" Jen repeated. "That's not Latin."

"No, it seems Greek," Alex said, immediately summoning Buda. "Hey, Buda, what's the meaning of the word 'Parthenos'?"

"Parthenos?" Buda said as he looked through his dictionary. "Parthenos means 'Virgin'"

"Virgo," the couple said together.

"Next task is Virgo," Alex said. "Do you remember which task came with Virgo?"

"Not really," Jen answered. "Sorry."

"It's all right. We have another clue. It has to do with women, obviously, it's Virgo."

"Women?" Buda asked. "There's only one of Heracles' tasks that has to do with women."

"The ninth," Jen said as she summoned her own robotic mouse, Tao.

"How did you—"Alex began. The he remembered the letter. "Never mind."

"Yes, the ninth indeed," Buda said. "The task was to get the famous and very symbolic Girdle, or belt, of Hippolyte, the queen of the Amazons," he informed them.

Jen and Alex ate their breakfast as the robots informed them of the very interesting facts from this curious task. Just as the Brotherhood had said, it had to do a lot with communication: Heracles was ordered by king Eurydtheus to bring back to him the famous Girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, who was daughter of Otrera and Ares, the God of war. Eurystheus wanted this belt, which gave power and supremacy to the bearer, for his daughter Admete. The Amazons were a fierce all-woman race who were formidable fighters and were feared and respected by the Greeks, who named them 'Amazons' when they discovered they cut off their sword-arm breast so it wouldn't be in their way in battle.

"Ouch," Jen exclaimed, grabbing both of her breasts protectively.

"I doubt they will demand you to cut off one of your breasts, honey," Alex assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Still, ouch," she said, returning her attention to Buda, who was talking.

He continued the tale by explaining what Heracles had done: He had prepared an expedition, for the journey to the Amazon territory was long. He organized a group of volunteers, among them were Theseus and Telamon. Expecting nothing but hostility from the Amazons, who had been very brutal to the Greeks in the past, they armed a ship and set sail on their long voyage. Surprisingly, when they reached Temiscyra, the capital of the Amazon nation, they were well-received by the Amazons, especially by their Queen, Hippolyte, who was charmed by their good looks.

Heracles explained to Hippolyte the reason for their long trip, and she said he could have the Girdle as a gift. Hera, who was never too keen on letting things happen easily for Heracles, took the form of an Amazon and spread the word that Heracles had come to take their queen with him back to Greece. The Amazons, believing they were protecting their queen, began fighting the heroes and in the fierce battle that occurred, Hippolyte was killed by Heracles, who thought she had betrayed him.

"Doesn't Heracles know any other way of solving his issues, other than killing people?" Alex wondered loudly.

"No, I don't think he did," Tao said softly. "Anyway, Heracles and his heroes won the battle." Now Tao took over from Buda and continued with the story:

Heracles took the girdle and they all made their way home. On their return voyage, Heracles saved the life of Hesione, Daughter of the king of Troy. To save her, he killed a sea-monster, to which she was being sacrificed, because it was the only way to end the punishments the gods had sent the king for refusing to pay for their help. Heracles was also offered a payment, but when he rescued Hesione, the king also refused to pay him, so he gave the girl to his brother in arms Telamon, who took her to Greece and married her.

"Well, they were right, it was a problem of communication that caused the whole thing: if the Amazons had demanded what they wanted, rather than believe the rumors, their queen wouldn't have been murdered," Jen said.

"Well, knowing Heracles, he probably would have killed her anyway for some other reason," Alex said and they both laughed.

"True," Jen admitted. She got up and Alex imitated her. "We better pack it up and get going, we have a Girdle to take, a herd of one-breasted women and a sea-monster to kill!" she said jokingly.

"Let's hope the Brotherhood keeps going doing the symbolic path," Alex said as he packed the blankets. Jen held him by the waist from behind and kissed him on the back of the neck.

"Why so serious, Major Drake?" she asked.

"I'm not serious," he said, even if his face was dead serious.

"Then why that face?"

"What face?"

"The serious face."

"What serious face?"

"Yours!"

"I don't have a serious face, it's just my face, that's all."

Jen chuckled. "All right." She conceded, kissing him on the lips and setting towards the door that had opened at the other end of the room. She cast one last look at the statue of Geryon, shuddered and walked past the door, closely followed by Alex.

They kept a light conversation with their robots, mostly about the Amazons and Heracles, as they walked, and rather soon found themselves in a large square room. In the middle, nine statues of women stood in a circle, as if they were protecting the huge dark hole between them. Hanging about fifteen feet high, there was a beautiful circular carving from which dozens of ropes were hanging, continuing well into the hole in the floor.

They examined the statues and saw they had names and numbers on their chest-plates, and also noticed that while the bodies and armours were carved in stone, the swords they held up were made of metal, real swords. Alex reached for one and was able to pull it out of the statue's grip without much effort.

Jen found the Amazons were labelled and began reading their names, walking clockwise around the circle, while Alex dedicated his attention to the ropes from the ceiling, summoning his Time Force glasses, so he could zoom in and have a better look at them.

"Deianeira, Phillipis, Protoe, Eriobea, Tecmessa, Astaria, Marpe, Celaeno and Alcippe," Jen read.

Tao stood on his rear legs on her shoulder, to tell her, directly to the ear: "Those were the nine Amazons that fought Heracles one on one after he killed Hippolyte. They were looking to avenge their queen, but the hero was merciless."

"Doesn't surprise me," said Alex, who seemed to have suddenly sprouted a dislike for the greatest of Greek heroes.

Jen circled around the statues again, looking more closely at them. She noticed that their nostrils were carved inwards, as if they needed to breathe. It wasn't long before she had to hold on to Asteria, for she suddenly felt dizzy.

"Jen, are you all right?" Alex asked, grabbing her shoulder. With her eyes still closed, she grabbed his wrist and twisted it, taking him by surprise and twisting his arm behind his back. He was immobilized, more by shock than by her hold on his arm, but she kicked him hard on the buttocks and sent him flying forward; he staggered to keep from falling down and when he turned around, he saw Jen with one sword in her hand.

"Jen?" he demanded, taking a step back as she thrust the sword forward.

"It's mine," she said simply.

"What?"

"It's mine," she repeated.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded concernedly.

"The girdle is mine, the power and supremacy will be mine; it's about time I got to do something on my own, something to prove my worth, this is it, I'll take the girdle and you will wait here. The girdle is mine."

"No, Jen, listen, I think we both have to go get it," he began, but she cut off his words by swinging the sword forward and almost cutting his arm.

"The Girdle is MINE!"

"Jen, listen, it'll be yours, I'll just help you get it," he said, moving towards the statues.

"No!" she yelled, moving towards him, ready to charge again. "It'll get it, it's mine! This is my task, this is my task, to prove my worth!"

"Jen—" She attacked him again, but this time he grabbed a sword from the nearest Amazon and blocked her. "Listen to me, you can't do it on your own!"

"Yes I can!" she said, taking another swing at him. "Why won't you believe in my abilities?! I'll prove to you I can do it even if you say I can't!" She kept attacking him and he was simply blocking her. He didn't want to engage in a sword fight with his wife, though his fears that he might have to grew by the second.

"This had nothing to do with your abilities, it's the task! It's the way it was designed; you can't do it on your own! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

But she wouldn't listen. The only thing she could understand was that once again he was trying to steal her glory, to steal her achievement. He wanted the girdle, the girdle that symbolized supremacy and power, and all she knew was she wasn't going to let him.

"It's mine!" Her attacks grew stronger and consequentially more dangerous to Alex, who ultimately decided to knock the sword out of her hand, which proved easier said than done. When he tried to kick her in the hand, she blocked his kick with her sword and then kicked him herself, with a strength that couldn't come from his thin and almost fragile wife.

"Jen, what have they done to you?" he asked from the floor, for she had knocked him off his feet.

She put the sword to his chest and said, staring at him with a furious look, "It's mine, and I'll get it myself!" She threw the sword at him, hitting him in the face with the handle and walked towards the ropes.

It looked like a pretty simple task: climbing up the ropes and getting to the girdle, pulling it down, wrapping it around her waist and obtaining supremacy and power, well, symbolically. She would prove to Alex that she was no longer fragile or inept, but a strong and fierce woman, like an Amazon, but with both breasts.

"Jen, DON'T!" Alex yelled, jumping to his feet when he saw her ready to jump at the ropes. She looked over her shoulder and stared at him with spite, and then jumped athletically and grabbed one of the climbing ropes. It gave out under her weight and sent her speeding down the black hole.

"JEN!" Alex yelled, as he ran across the room and grabbed the rope that counterweighted the rope Jen was hanging from, stopping her dead in her fall.

He heard her gasp a couple of feet under the floor.

"Are you okay, honey?" he asked, the memory of what had happened merely days ago on the Gemini bridge flashing before his eyes.

"I'm fine." Jen's voice sounded, surprisingly, angry; which brought back even more memories from the Gemini bridge.

Alex sighed and looked down the hole, hanging onto the rope until he saw her climb out. "I guess I really can't do it on my own," she admitted without looking at him.

Alex looked up at the girdle and suddenly decided he didn't feel like climbing. "Go ahead," he said. "Go get it, I'll hold down the rope for you," he offered. He was surprised when Jen kicked him purposely on her way up to the girdle. "Damn it, Jennifer, what the heck is wrong with you?!"

She didn't answer; instead she kept climbing until she reached the girdle and then pulled it down. She tried to wrap it around her waist and it slipped out of her reach. As it fell down, Alex reached out and grabbed it.

"I got it," he said with satisfaction, looked up to hand it over, and felt Jen's foot making forceful contact with his face, so hard he almost lost his grip on the rope, causing Jen to slide down to his height. She pulled the girdle from his hand and then kicked him again, this time causing him to loose hold of the rope.

Alex would later remember the fall as if it had happened in slow motion. He remembered trying to grasp many of the ropes, hoping to reach both ends of the same and slow down his fall, but being unsuccessful. He could even have sworn that right before he lost consciousness, he could hear his bones crushing against the floor, and Jen's scream, as she fell down and hit the floor with an awful thud and cracking sound that reminded him, in his semi-consciousness, of the sound her skull had made in his illusion, when he had though he had cracked it open.

To be continued…


	33. Two Thirds of the Way

AN: Here we are, back in the amazing journey of finishing this story. As the tittle of this chapter says we are two thirds of the way, so hopefully it will be done soon. enjoy.

Chapter 33: Two-thirds of the Way.

Alex didn't know how long he had been unconscious, but he was sure of one thing: if the last thing he remembered was true, then his body hurt far less than it should.

He tried to move and his muscles were crossed by electric shocks that were painful by themselves, and became even more so when his mind concluded they were caused by his muscles remaining still for a very long time. It had been a while since he last moved, and his body was in pain for that. His muscles lacked oxygen as did his brain. He was cold and covered in his own sweat. A shiver ran down his back, and his body was overtaken by a wave of electric pain.

A new thought crossed his brain: treatment. It was the same feeling he had had when he woke up after Ransik attacked him. It took the doctors merely hours to heal his back injury, and the sensation had been the same. His muscles shut down, dry, needing blood and oxygen, needing to move again. Fever caused by the nanobots, robots the size of a cell, made of pure carbon, programmed to do specific healing tasks in a body. Those little robots had probably fixed all of his broken bones in less than one day.

The thought of all of his broken bones brought another one to Alex's mind: Jen. Ignoring her sudden change of attitude during the exploration of the Amazons' statues, he was more worried about her health. He wanted to know if she was okay, but the idea of opening his eyes, just by itself, hurt. He didn't even want to try to move his head. He lay very still, feeling himself drifting into sleep again. He heard Jen moan softly, in pain, but alive. He was never sure if it was real, just like the strong hands he felt around his body, releasing him from the tightly wrapped blankets that kept him warm.

It seemed like forever until Alex became conscious of his body again. He had woken up several more times, and had caught glimpses of blurry figures through the small slits of his eyes; as they fed him and dried his sweat with the softest pieces of fabric Alex had ever felt. They put food in his mouth and he had no choice but to swallow it, too hungry and too weak to present any resistance.

He never coincided with Jen in his brief moments of wakefulness, and it got to a point where he was sure they were drugging him with the food; his muscles had stopped hurting when he moved, and the pain had been replaced by a dull sensation.

Finally, they stopped drugging him. He woke up at last; wrapped in the softest sheet he had ever felt, wearing nothing but his briefs. He expected his head to hurt after such a long time sleeping, but he felt pretty recovered. He moved his head to his side and saw Jen lying next to him, also wrapped in white sheets, looking peaceful and relaxed. The belt for which they had both fallen quite a good distance was nowhere to be seen, and she didn't seem to care. Between them there were his clothes, folded and apparently clean, and a basket, the sight of which made Alex notice he was hungry. He decided to wait for Jen to wake up, and lay there, watching her sleep peacefully, her face illuminated by the mysterious light that had accompanied them throughout their tasks.

Finally, Jen's face contorted in the funny face she made when she woke up and she let out a sigh, and blinked twice, before she managed to keep her eyes open. She looked at him and smiled. "Hey," she said weakly.

Alex moved from under his blankets and crawled to hers, sneaking in and running his hand up her body. She was wearing nothing but her panties, and he pressed his own torso against hers as he kissed her.

"You like me again?" he asked when she looked at him lovingly.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, running her hand through his black hair.

"Well, you didn't exactly love me back there."

"Back where?"

He looked into her eyes, and realized she wasn't playing dumb, she really didn't know what he was talking about. "What is the last thing you remember?" he asked, resting his weight on one arm and caressing her hair with the other hand.

"Looking at those statues of the Amazons, then it's all blurry; I remember being fed and cared for but nothing else. I don't remember how I got from the statues to the being fed part, actually."

Alex told her. Her face grew more horrified as he advanced through the story. "I attacked you with a sword?!" she asked. "And then I made us fall onto rocky ground and break half of our skeletons?!"

"I guess in a twisted, crazy, hard to explain way, it was really not your fault after all," he said with a smile and kissed her forehead.

"Oh, my God, Alex! I could have killed you!" she said worriedly.

"And yourself, but you didn't," he said. "Let's get dressed, let's eat and let's read the letter that will surely explain to us why you tried to kill us both."

And so they did. They got up, slowly, and stretched their muscles, sore after the long inactivity. Finally, Alex got dressed and sat next to the basket, watching Jen get dressed. She was the thinnest he had ever seen her, including even those dark grey days before they got back together and married; or even after the series of miscarriages that had led to another deep depression. She also had a large bruise on her back and moved more cautiously than he did, proof that she was still in pain.

"What does the letter say?" she asked.

"Let me check," he answered, putting his hand inside the basket, and finding a short letter.

_We apologize deeply for the minor setback of the free-fall. While it was a bit of a high fall, only a couple of days have been invested in your recovery, so nothing too serious has been lost._

"Minor setback?" Jen asked incredulously as she sat next to Alex, who continued reading for an answer. "A bit of a high fall? We dropped about fifteen feet and landed on hard rock. It was life-threatening!" Alex simply nodded, to let her know he agreed with her comments.

_We assure you this little mishap has no effect over your solution of the task; you managed to work as a team long enough to get the girdle, despite the reaction we provoked on Jen. We ask you, from the very depths of our hearts, not to worry or criticize yourselves over it; you are now fully recovered from the consequences of the fall, or at least recovered enough to continue your journey. _

_We are pleased to assure you that the words spoken in the Amazon room are not real, and we sincerely hope the great advances you two had made in your relationship has not suffered from those shallow and empty words. _

"Now we know why you tried to kill me; they made you attack me, somehow," Alex told Jen with a reassuring smile. She smiled back and put her hand on his shoulder.

_So far the tasks you have faced have been primarily physical, and produced results: some expected, some unexpected, and we are very proud of you, for very few couples manage to get this far. You are now two thirds into your journey, and the last four tasks you will find different from the first ones, all of this due to the fact we now have a new purpose, although, of course, your purpose continues to be the rescue of your children._

_We hope you enjoy going through the final four tasks together, hand in hand; you will need each other now more than ever before, and you must be there for each other no matter what. The next task seeks to open a gateway to the final moments of your journey, and it will involve a forest, a sacred possession and stealing. You might even feel, as did Heracles, that the weight of the world is on your back. Good luck._

"The weight of the world?" Alex asked, looking up.

"A forest," Jen said pensively. "I think we are going back to the surface, it's possible," she suggested.

"It certainly is, although it might as well be a marble forest," he said.

"Yeah, you are right. I can't believe they considered this fall a 'minor setback', I mean, it was a very high drop."

"Well, they aren't exactly normal, these people," Alex said dismissively. "Let me call Buda now, and figure out which of the remaining tasks of Heracles corresponds to our next task." He did as he said, while Jen grabbed some of the food they had been left, and looked at the picture of them holding their babies they had been given in the Gemini maze.

"What can I do for you?" Buda asked. "It has been a while since you last let me out, where have you been?"

"Unconscious," Alex said simply. "This is the info we have on the next task: it involves a forest, a sacred possession and stealing, and Heracles felt the weight of the world on his back."

"Besides that, there are only four of Heracles' tasks left," Jen added, storing the picture again.

The robot took a minute to answer: "I've got it; it's the task of the Apples of the Hesperides."

Jen and Alex looked at each other. "You ready to keep going?" he asked. She nodded.

They packed things up and got to walk, together, hand in hand.

Only four tasks left. And then they would be a family again.

To Be Continued….


	34. Compromise and marks

Chapter 34: Compromise and marks.

"So, Tao," Jen asked after summoning the robot from her own glove, "What was the task of the apples of the Hesperides about?"

"It was Heracles' penultimate task," the robot started, without any mention of their disappearance or his own confinement. "Eurystheus asked him to pluck three golden apples from the tree of the Hesperides. The most difficult part was finding the garden, which was secret. These apples were a present from Gaia, the Earth-mother, to Hera and Zeus on their wedding. Hera planted them in her garden and sent a one-hundred-headed monster to look after them."

"We can safely assume what happened to the poor monster," Alex said. "It got killed." Jen snorted at his comment, but Tao shook his head.

"You are wrong, Heracles never came in contact with the monster, and therefore it was never killed," the robot said. "Heracles set off towards the west, where the garden was rumored to be located. On his way, he met some river nymphs who told him that Nereus, the old man of the sea, would know the whereabouts of the garden. Heracles found him, and then forced the old god to give him directions."

"How does one force a god to give directions?" Jen asked playfully.

"By choking him long enough, in Heracles case. Nereus could turn himself into many forms, including fire and water, but Heracles hung onto him until he had no choice but to give him directions. Moving on, Heracles found the titan Prometheus, who had been punished by having his liver torn out by vultures every day, as it grew back every night. Heracles liberated the Titan from his punishment, and he told the hero not to pick the apples himself, but to ask another Titan, Atlas, to do it for him. After a long journey, full of useless battles and unnecessary killings, Heracles found the garden, and remembering the advice from Prometheus went straight to Atlas, who had been given the burden to carry the world on his shoulders."

"That explains why the Brotherhood told us we might feel the weight of the world is on our shoulders," Alex said.

"It's either that or they plan to make us carry really big boulders," Jen answered, rather gloomily.

"Little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Alex commented with a smirk.

"Huh! We'll see!" she said, unable to suppress her own smirk.

"Keep going, Tao," Alex asked.

"Well, Heracles approached Atlas and offered to take the burden of the world off him if he went and fetched three apples from the golden tree. The Titan thought this was an easy way to rid himself of the burden and agreed. Heracles took the world on his back, and Atlas went to get the apples. When the Titan returned with the apples, he offered to take them to King Eurystheus himself, refusing to take back his burden. Heracles pretended to like carrying the burden, and asked Atlas to hold the world for him for a minute, so he could bind his own head with ropes to release some pressure causing him pain. The Titan was a little slow and took back the burden. Heracles took the apples and set off, leaving the Titan deceived with his own trickery.

Heracles gave the apples to King Eurystheus, who admired their beauty but didn't know what to do with them, so he handed them back to the hero, who, not knowing what to do with them either, gave them to Athena. The goddess took them back to the garden, where they belonged."

"King Eurystheus is such an ass! He asks Heracles to bring him things he either doesn't know what to do with, or sacrifices them to Hera!" Jen snapped.

"Yeah, but this is a nice story. It's mostly about brains over brawn, literally," Alex said.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm tired," Jen said, sitting on the floor. Alex sat next to her.

"I'm tired too. Tired and hungry." He proceeded to check his glove and found the chocolate they had kept from before. "You want some chocolate?"

"Sure," Jen said. He handed her a piece and they sat back and ate. "I would pay to see the babies again!" she said suddenly.

"Me too. I wonder how long we've been here. I've completely lost track of time."

"It could have been a month; it could have been a year, who knows?"

"It definitely hasn't been a year, Jennifer, maybe a month, or two, but not a year."

"Who knows?" She shrugged and finished her chocolate. "I wish we had a basket, I'm so hungry, and we don't have any food saved."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," he said. "Well, let's keep on moving; the sooner we get knocked unconscious by something, the sooner we get something to eat." They laughed at the comment, got up, and kept walking.

After a couple of minutes of silent walking, Alex cleared his throat, as if preparing to say something important. There was something he had wanted to bring back into conversation, and he felt it was the right time. Jen looked like she was open to discuss the matter, and even reach a compromise solution. "Jen," he began.

"Yes?"

"Have you given any thought to the returning to the Force thing?" he asked bluntly.

Jen remained silent for a few seconds. She had thought of it, she had weighed her options and she had decided she was willing to compromise on it. "Yes, I have," she said simply.

"Good. I was thinking, I'd really like to go back, you know? Time Force is really my thing, it's what I really like to do," he said, telling her he wanted to go back, but not making her feel threatened.

"I know it is," she said. "Time Force is not only what you do best, is what keeps you alive. It keeps that fire burning in your heart, capturing the crooks, running after the mutants, the explosions, it's what you live for," she said, looking at him for the first time since their conversation had started.

"It was what I lived for, Jen. Now I have you, and the kids, but I think the only thing I'm missing to be absolutely and completely content with my life, is to have my job back." He stopped walking and took her hand in his. "We can do this. We have done this in the past. We are a great team, Jen, just look how far we have gotten all by ourselves in these crazy tasks. I won't ever let anything bad happen to you, or our babies, and I promise I'll be very careful with myself too."

She looked at him, her face blank. He remained silent for a few seconds, looking at her, his eyes begging in a deep way his words couldn't. She swallowed hard and looked to the wall behind him. "Only as officers, not Rangers," she whispered very softly.

"What?" he asked in a controlled voice.

"Only as officers," she repeated. "I don't want us to be the Power Rangers anymore."

He remained silent, looking at her face. She still refused to look at him. It was a very good compromise. "Are you sure?" he asked one last time.

"Yes, I'm sure." She finally looked at him and couldn't suppress a smile. "I have to admit I have missed it too." He let out a happy scream and picked her up by the waist and twirled her around in the air.

Putting her back on the floor, he kissed her. "Thank you, baby. I promise I'll be very careful."

"Of course you will, I'll be there by your side all the time. We have to be partners!" she added as an afterthought demand.

"Of course we have to be partners!" he said happily, hugging her again and kissing her. "I wouldn't want to be partners with anybody else," he added sincerely.

She smiled and kissed him softly. "I'm glad you're happy."

"You keep making me happy, in every way." He took her hand and kissed it.

They walked silently for a few minutes again, and after a few minutes they found something that pleased them very much: the Brotherhood had left them a basket in the middle of the corridor.

"Food!" Alex called and ran for the basket, with Jen on his tail. They both sat down next to the basket and Alex opened it. The first thing he withdrew was a photograph of two baby boys, about two months old, awake, and looking straight at the camera. On the back were written the words: "It's only been six weeks." He remained silent, and looked at the babies, his children, and from the photograph, they seemed to be looking back. Silently, he handed the photo to Jen, who took it with a trembling hand.

"Six weeks," she whispered after reading the back of the photo. "They are almost two months old now," she whispered, caressing the photograph lovingly. "They've got your eyes, told you so," she told Alex.

"Yeah, but they have your smile."

"Just like we always wanted," she said, on the verge of tears. He moved towards her and hugged her.

"Hey, we'll get them back," he promised. "We'll get them back and everything will be fine."

"I know," she said, drying her tears. After comforting her for a second, he put his hand back in the basket and pulled out a rose.

"Look, a rose for my lady," he said, handing it over to her.

"It's beautiful," she said, looking at him with a smile. "Roses were my mother's favorite flowers, they were her sign flowers; she was a Libra."

"Well, now we know what sign we are dealing with, Libra."

"Yes. What's for eating? I'm starving!" she said, putting the rose and the photo aside.

Alex pulled out a small container and opened it. "Seems to be fish," he said, handing it over.

"Let's eat," she suggested, and he nodded. They ate swiftly and silently, and after they were done, they laid back against one of the corridor's walls, Jen looking at the picture of her babies, as she absentmindedly ran the petals of the rose over her cheek. Alex sat looking at her. Eventually, Jen fell asleep, used to napping after meals. He looked at her for a few moments, and then became distracted by the palms of his hands.

In ordinary circumstances, and until six weeks ago, the palms of his hands were something he wouldn't normally look at, but since they had started this journey every task they managed to get through was tattooed on the palms of their hands. He had often wondered why the palm of the hand, but had never come up with an answer.

At the moment he had eight tattoos, four in each hand. On his right palm, near the thumb were Sagittarius in purple and Aries in red; at the base of his middle finger was Gemini in a golden yellow; and at the base of his ring finger, clashing terribly with his wedding band, was Leo in orange, the first one they had gotten.

On his let hand, near the thumb was Taurus, in a pale blue. Below his index and middle fingers was Cancer in gray and below it was Virgo in blue, their latest one. Below Virgo and Taurus was Capricorn in green.

Staring at his palms, he tried to guess where the four remaining tattoos would be, and their respective colors. After only a few minutes, Jen woke up, startled, and looked guiltily at him. "Did I doze off?" she asked.

"Yes, but it's okay. I was admiring our tattoos," he said, showing her the palms of his hands. She turned her own hands over and showed identical marks.

"This is to remind us how long it has been."

"No, it's to remind us how far we've gotten, and how close we are to the end," he corrected her.

"You're right, we are so close now," she agreed.

"Yes, I say we keep going, we have a new task waiting for us."

"A golden tree, the weight of the world, a one-hundred headed monster," she enumerated.

"And a new tattoo."

To be continued…


	35. Moving Message

Chapter 35: Moving Message.

After a few minutes of silent walking, Jen decided to ask a question. Just as Alex had waited for the right moment to bring the return to the Time Force back on the table, she had been waiting for the right moment to bring up another subject. This particular subject had been waiting for years.

"Alex?" she began.

Alex looked at her, smiling slightly.

"I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Ask away," he encouraged.

"It's a bit of a touchy thing," she said.

"Hey, I think this is the best moment to deal with any touchy subject," he said.

Jen nodded, she already knew that, but how to bring it up? "After we broke up," she began; he looked at her again, an eyebrow raised. "Fine, after I broke up with you, you, uhm, turned a bit cold on me," she began, lowering her gaze.

"I know," he said sweetly, to encourage her to keep going.

"When I gave you the ring back, I kind of hoped we could still be friends, perhaps after a while, after you had had time to sulk. I hoped we might even go back to dating again, you know? Not be engaged, but being boyfriend and girlfriend again."

"You never told me any of this before," he said, taking her hand in his as they walked.

"I never really had the chance, Alex. You became all cold and mean, and I knew that I had hurt you, but I didn't think I deserved that. I still don't think I deserved that."

"Jen, I—"

"I don't want an apology," she interrupted. "It's useless now, we are married, we have children, we are happy. It's just I suffered a lot during that time, and I have to admit I still have a bit of a hard feeling in me, but it's due to lack of information. I never understood why you treated me like that, and I won't be able to completely let it go until I know." She looked into his eyes, and saw there that he didn't know himself.

"I don't know, Jennifer. When you gave me the ring back, I accepted your decision; I understood that you loved someone else. I wasn't happy about it, I didn't support it, but I understood. In that very second I understood that what we had was gone, that you were no longer my Jennifer, and I was no longer your Alex. I understood we had changed, and I understood it was nobody's fault."

"Then why did you treat me like that? Why did you use Brynn to hurt me?" she urged.

"I didn't use Brynn to hurt you. I approached her because we suspected she was working for the mutants. She had hooked up with some Time Force scientists and high ranking officers and had dumped them for apparently no reason. I was ordered to approach her and date her, and therefore sell bogus files to the mutants, along with some good, working ones, in order not to let them know we knew about Brynn," Alex explained.

"You never told me that," she said.

"You never asked."

"You slept with her; you never slept with me."

"It wasn't because I didn't want to, because, believe me, I did. But I respected you more than I respected her, and I thought that since I was single, and I had to date her for my mission, I might as well enjoy it to some point." He shrugged as if it didn't matter, but he knew it mattered. He knew Jen had always wondered why he had never taken her to bed until they were married

"It's very brave of you to admit that so bluntly," she said. He was going to answer but she interrupted. "But don't change the subject. Why were you so mean to me, if you understood?"

"I told you the truth when I said I don't know. This guy, who used to be my friend, told me that the best way to get you back is by giving you the cold shoulder. It was obviously stupid advice to follow, but I did, and I never knew why. This guy later tells me he is sorry he caused me all this trouble, but that he was just doing my mom a favor, which made sense, because Mom kept telling me to do exactly the same thing this guy told me to do, and I kept doing what she said, and I found myself feeling angry and spiteful at you and I don't understand how that happened. When that truck crashed against you, it was as if I had woken up from a nightmare, as if nothing of the hatred or spite I had been feeling had ever been there, there was only love and concern for you in my heart. I'm sorry, it was a very slow change, I didn't notice it until it was too late, and I sometimes feel I couldn't help myself."

Clarification entered Jen's mind as Alex spoke those last words. She smiled at him lovingly and kissed his cheek. "Do you remember fighting against Wes when we stopped your mother in that farm?"

"I remember the pain," he said bitterly. "But I don't remember starting the fight." He then looked at her with a weird look on his face. "What does that have to do with this?"

"Everything," she said. "I don't know how this didn't occur to me sooner. Your mother hated me, and she wanted to keep you away from me. To do that all she had to do was activate the mind control she had over you. She sent your friend to suggest this behavior to create the predisposition, to create the possibility of you acting like that, so you wouldn't feel weird acting like that all of the sudden and out of nowhere."

"So, are you saying it was Mom?"

"It makes sense, but of course you'd have to ask her to be sure," she said. They both stopped walking and looked up; there was a doorway in front of them. On the other side, there was a dimly lit room. "Looks like we're here."

"Where?" he said, turning on his flashlight and looking around.

"I don't know," Jen admitted.

It wasn't properly a room, they had to admit it. It was more like a big cave; the brotherhood seemed to have run out of marble, because neither the walls nor the floor were covered in it, it was all dirt and rock.

They looked around and noticed it had three ways out. The three gateways had no markings or distinction as far as they could see; they were exactly like each other.

In the middle of the cave, dimly illuminating the room, was a statue of a merman lying on his back over a beautifully carved cylinder, made of marble. So the brotherhood hadn't run out of it, they had just used it wisely. The carvings on the cylinder were nothing but waves, so it wasn't hard for them to figure out who the statue represented: Nereus, the old man of the sea.

They walked once around the figure and Alex found the instructions in a small letter.

"Nereus refused always to give Heracles a straight answer, and he kept mutating trying to avoid the hero. Before time runs out, you must defeat Nereus, and find the answer hidden by his moving message. Choose your way correctly for there is no going back," Alex read out loud.

As he finished reading the letter, the doorway through which they had entered was closed by a heavy iron gate. "Before time runs out," Jen said, looking apprehensively at the gate. "What do you think they mean by that?"

"I have no idea," Alex said; there had been another part of the message that had flashed a red flag at him, but he couldn't pinpoint it. "I'm more concerned about Nereus' moving message. I can't see it anywhere, the statue is solid; it has no moving parts."

"You're right," Jen said after examining the statue with her own flashlight. But there was something that called for her attention: the light. The light the statue was emanating had grown slightly stronger. As she passed in front of the cylinder, near Nereus' fins, she noticed there was a hole at the base of the cylinder, big enough for her to press her face against it and look inside, and that was exactly what she did. "Alex!" she called. "Come and look! It's a kaleidoscope!"

Alex approached her and looked into the cylinder. At the other end, beautiful bits of different colors shone and moved, illuminated from behind and making the most beautiful patterns Alex had ever seen. The colors and shapes changed as the pieces turned around slowly. It only took Alex a minute to realize the light behind the pieces was getting brighter by the second.

"That's what they mean when they say before time runs out," he told Jen, who had been walking around the statue trying to find more clues. "The light keeps getting brighter. Soon we won't be able to look at the moving pieces anymore."

"Let me have a look," she asked. He moved aside and she looked into the cylinder, trying to see something that pointed in the right direction, but the images formed at the end of the kaleidoscope were too intricate and changed too fast to allow her to find a signal.

The light got brighter and it started to hurt Jen's eyes, but she kept trying until she felt Alex's hand on her shoulder. "Leave it, Jen, you are damaging your eyes; it can't be that simple."

"Simple?" she asked, tearing her eyes away from the mesmerizing images to look at him as if he were crazy. As far as she could see there was nothing simple about those images and their hidden meaning.

"Well, not simple, but obvious. It's too obvious to be right," he assured.

"But the instructions are clear," Jen insisted. "The answer is hidden in the moving parts, which means the images at the end of the kaleidoscope."

Finally Alex recognized what had flashed the red flag. He moved towards the side of the statue and read the message with instructions again. "That's it," he said, checking the message. "That's it, Jen," he repeated, moving towards the back of the cylinder and examining it carefully.

"What's it?" Jen asked, as she followed him, feeling lost.

"The information is not hidden in the moving message, it's hidden BY the moving message," he said in a tone that said it was clear as day as far as he was concerned.

"What?" Jen repeated, having problems catching up.

"Jennifer, think," Alex said. "When they say moving message they refer to the pieces in the back of the kaleidoscope, the ones that move and create the beautiful images." He kept checking the back of the cylinder with his eyes narrowed, as the light kept getting brighter. "So if the message is hidden by the moving parts it means it's not in the images displayed, it's in the moving parts, literally." He finally found what he was looking for: a way to remove the back of the cylinder. He started to do so, but this time it was Jen's turn to stop him.

"Cover your eyes," she reminded him. "Once you remove that lid, the light will hit you face first!"

"Good point," he said. He retrieved his sunglasses and put them on. Jen imitated him.

Alex opened the lid and a very bright light illuminated the whole space. The piece that held the lamp was very hot to the touch and Alex took his shirt off to protect his hands as he pulled it out. Once the lamp was out, they found a pile of medium sized colored pieces. Jen reached in and tried to grab them, but they were hot as well. With a quick glance at her husband, she removed her own shirt and used it to pick the pieces up.

They brought the colored pieces to one side of the now brightly lit room and placed them on the floor. As they sat down and began to check the pieces, it became obvious Alex was right, the pieces were letters. The couple counted them and observed them trying to figure out how to form a message.

After a few minutes they knew they had twenty three letters of four different colors. A closer accounting revealed they had seven red letters, three blue ones, five green ones and eight yellow ones.

"Okay, we have four 'H's" Jen began. "T's, E's and R's: we have three of each, two G's and one A, O, U, M, K, I, N and S." She laid them down on the floor in front of them as she said so.

"Look, the blue letters," Alex said, picking them up excitedly, "a T, an H and an E. Obviously they make the word 'the'."

"That's true," Jen agreed with a smile, growing excited herself. "Do you think we should call Tao and Buda for help with this?" Jen asked.

"Nah, we've got it," Alex said happily. "Each color is a word, which means we have a four word sentence here."

"The green letters form the word 'three'," Jen said perkily, picking them up and forming the word on the floor.

"And the yellow ones form the word 'markings'" Alex said, smiling at the simplicity of the puzzle once the first obstacle had been overcome. "And the last word, the red one, is 'through'," he finalized.

"'Through the three markings,'" Jen read, after arranging the words in her head without effort. They looked at each other, satisfied with their speed at solving the puzzle, but the joy left them as Jen asked the looming question: "Which three markings?"

"I have no idea," Alex admitted. "I think we should have a look at our possible exits," he suggested and they both walked towards the doorways that led out of the room, feeling somewhat confident that they could find the three markings with the bright light that came from the lamp. But just as they approached the first doorway and began examining it, the lamp went off and left them in a total and absolute darkness.

"Well, that's inconvenient," Alex said in the dark, standing perfectly still.

By his side he could hear his wife say: "Yeah, I'd say so."

To Be Continued…


	36. The Forest

Chapter 36: The Forest.

The darkness engulfed them completely, and they both stood there for a few seconds, hand in hand, trying to stay calm.

"What should we do?" Jen asked. Alex let go of her hand and began feeling the buttons of his officer glove, trying to find his flashlight.

"Let me get a light," Alex began. He finally found what he was looking for and turned it on. "Okay, now we are much better. Let's have a look at the doorways." They moved towards the first archway and began looking at its surface.

Like the rest of the room it was made out of nothing but rock and showed no signs of ever having three markings, or two, or four, or any marking for that matter. Jen summoned her own flashlight to search on her own and maybe find something, but there was nothing.

"Maybe this isn't it," she said.

"Let's have a look at the others," Alex said, walking towards the second archways. They examined the second and third archways, but there was no sign of any marking in any of them. "There must be something we are doing wrong," he said with a hint of despair.

"The words said 'through the three markings'; it's not an anagram and it can't be put in any other order. We need to find the three markings," Jen assured.

"What three markings? There are no markings in this archways, they are just natural caves, they didn't even make these," he said, pointing at the caves.

"Then, the three markers are in something they did put in here," she said. "Something like that," she added, pointing her light at the statue.

"Good idea," he conceded. They returned to the statue and examined each and every single bit of it. Each splashing wave, flying hair streak, wrinkle in the old man's face was carefully looked at, trying to find the aforementioned three markings, but to no avail. The statue was impressive, the detail and the movement it expressed were almost terrifying in the now dimly lit room, but they could find nothing they could interpret as three markings that led to a way out.

"Maybe I was wrong," Jen said sadly. "Maybe they are not on the statue either."

"On the statue," Alex repeated softly. "It's not on the statue," he began, approaching it with that lost look that meant he was deep in thought. "It _is_ the statue," he concluded.

"You just said it wasn't on the statue," Jen argued.

"That's right. It's not something carved on the statue, it's the statue itself. Didn't Tao say something about Heracles fighting Nereus?"

"Yes," Jen answered and went silent for a second while she remembered. "He said Heracles choked him, holding on to him until he got his answer," she informed.

"Well, there you have it, we are supposedly Heracles, right?"

"Right."

"And here's Nereus, comfortably sitting on a cylinder, ready to be choked, is that a coincidence? I don't think so," Alex smiled as he approached the back of the statue, the end to which they had to press their faces to look at the kaleidoscope, and putting his flashlight in his mouth, he climbed up.

"Be careful," Jen advised simply.

Alex put one arm around the statue's neck, which was tricky because of the flying hair streaks. He moved to a more comfortable position and looked up.

There it was, one of the exits clearly pointed at by three markings: one streak of wild hair, the tip of the fin and the point of the raging wave. He jumped down from the statue and smiled at his wife after removing the flashlight from his mouth. "It's the one on the left," he announced, pointing at the exit. "From the position I took to choke the merman, the one on the middle is not visible, and the one on the right is only pointed at by one thing. The one on the left is pointed at by a streak of hair, the fin and the wave. That's our exit."

Jen smiled at him admiringly. "You are so smart," she said in a mock dreamy tone.

"I know, my dear," he said, taking her by the hand. The second they crossed the archway, a heavy iron gate closed behind them. "Let's go," Alex said, walking ahead, illuminating their path with nothing but their flashlights.

They didn't walk much. After only a few yards, the cave ended abruptly at a wall. They were shocked, had they gotten it wrong?

"There has to be a way out," Alex said forcefully, trying to keep his wife from panicking. And soon enough, he found a hole near the floor, big enough for both of them to get inside. He crawled inside with little difficulty, with Jen by his side, completely silent.

"This is it," he announced. The tunnel didn't continue straight forward or downwards, as he had thought, it turned 90 degrees and went upwards, like a chimney. It looked, however, easy to climb by the simple method of pushing against the wall. "Come on," he called to Jen as he sat up and slowly stood up, and began climbing the chimney, in a way they were taught in their Time Force training: pressing themselves against the wall and pushing out with their legs.

After his feet disappeared from the entrance, Jen climbed in and had a look. He was right, it look simple enough to climb, except she wasn't feeling exactly strong lately. Amazed at how easy it was for her to fit her small frame in the tunnel, she began climbing after her husband, but after a very short climb, she felt very tired. Alex was way ahead of her, almost at the top. Jen pushed herself a little harder and managed to get halfway through the tunnel, but she had to stop for a rest.

"Honey, are you okay?" she heard Alex ask concernedly from the top, the light from his flashlight bathing her.

"I don't think I can make it, Alex, I'm so tired I can barely hold myself up here," she said honestly.

"It's okay, honey, I'll throw you a rope and pull you up, okay? You'll just have to help me a little, all right?" he suggested.

She wanted to say no. She wanted to say she could do it on her own, that she was strong enough, but she just wasn't. And the fear of another drop like the one they had just been through helped her swallow her pride. "Okay, that sounds like a plan."

She heard him fumble with some equipment and soon felt the rope near her arm. "Grab a hold of it and I'll pull you up," he instructed. She grabbed the rope strongly with both hands and separated her back from the wall, but left her feet firmly pressed against the other wall.

"I'm ready," she instructed. She felt her husband pull and heard the faint sound of the pulleys he was using to assist himself. Soon she was at the top of the tunnel and he welcomed her by helping her out by the hand.

"Welcome," he said with a smile, but she didn't feel like smiling, she felt tears blur on the back of her eyes. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I can't believe I couldn't even climb that little tunnel, I mean, it's not even that high," she sniffed. "I'm so out of shape, so weak. If we do go back to the Force I'll probably have to do the entire academy training again," she criticized herself.

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself," he reassured her, holding her tight. "You just went through a very hard recovery."

"You went through the same recovery, and you had no problems," she argued.

"I had less problems, but I'm a man, and," he added when she opened her mouth, " I kept working out after I left the Force, not to mention my injuries were nowhere near as severe as yours. You also laid off the exercise for a while with the pregnancy and all that. And you've lost a lot of weight since we've been here, I was just noticing that. You have done very well so far, but you are getting tired; it's normal. It wasn't easy for me to climb up either, I need to rest too, if I don't want to damage my back again, although it hasn't been bothering me lately."

She seemed comforted by his words and nodded. "Probably those treatments they've put us through have helped your back as well," she said.

"Probably," he agreed. "Want some water?" he offered, she nodded and he handed her a bottle he had kept from their last meal. "Now, let's move on, if you're feeling better."

They got up, Alex packed his gear and they went to walk down the narrow corridor, this one covered in marble.

After they turned they suddenly found themselves in a forest, but not a real one, a petrified one. Unlike Alex had predicted, the trees were not made of marble, they were actual trees, but they seemed to glow with a greenish phosphorescent light that gave the entire complex a mystifying look.

"Wow," Jen let out as they approached the forest.

They stepped in very slowly, looking around. Everywhere, trees of all sizes and shapes formed a tight forest through which a river flowed ever so slowly in absolute silence. Their footsteps echoed all around them and their amazement only grew when they walked through the forest and found themselves in a circular clearing.

Right in the middle of a garden full of petrified flower beds, there was a gigantic petrified apple tree that didn't glow green like the others, but pink. Hanging from its branches there were a dozen golden apples, and right by it's roots there was the basket full of food they had learned to expect.

As Jen approached the tree, Alex looked around for the one-hundred headed monster, but nothing but silence and glowing trees surrounded them.

Jen, on the other hand, was wondering at the trees that surrounded them. She looked at the apple tree for a while, marveling not only at its lovely pink glow, but its lovely golden apples, so big and shiny. She then moved towards the other side of the forest, staring at all the other trees in it. There were all kinds of trees: fruit trees, berry bushes, palms and pines, all petrified forever, glowing in different shades of green from their glass-like surfaces. She extended her hand to touch a palm tree and was amazed by its soft surface, that was slightly warm and made of glass.

As they walked around, each on his or her own, they began to notice the shade of the trees began slowly changing to blue. Soon, all the trees were glowing blue, and the apple tree in the middle was glowing purple.

Practical as usual, Alex didn't allow himself to be amazed by the beautiful trees, and simply asked: "What do we have to do?"

Jen, who heard him in the absolute silence despite being a few yards away, turned back to him and said, "I don't know." She started walking, following the little river, to try to figure out where it was flowing to. Finally, she found herself standing in front of what seemed to be pair of gigantic stone doors, that were separated from the forest by a very wide clearing, and let the water pass through very small holes, causing it to flow slowly.

Alex continued to look around the clearing for clues to their task, and found absolutely nothing. He sat down, trying to figure out what to do, and Jen joined him a while after.

"The river flows towards a pair of stone doors that are just too big to move," she informed him.

"Yet, that must be the exit, somehow," he said. As they sat there in silence, the apple tree changed to blue, and the trees began glowing yellow.

"It's so beautiful," Jen let out.

Alex looked at her and smiled, putting one of his arms around her shoulders. "I think it's fiberglass, the trees are covered in glass, so probably that's what makes them change their color like that," he said.

"Fiberglass is so ancient," she said with a smile. "In the 21st century it was still sort of innovative. They had only started using it for a few things, like TV and other small stuff. After being the most used information transmission technology for so long, it is now reduced to coloring vitrified trees in an underground perpetual forest."

"In which we still don't know what to do," he added sadly.

"I know something we could do while we wait for instructions," Jen said with a wicked smile.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes," she summoned her sleeping bag and spread it on the floor. Then she sat down on it and removed her shirt, not taking her eyes off her husband for a second.

"Jennifer?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Come on, how many times are we going to get the chance of making love in a vitrified forest that glows in different colors?" she asked with a wide smile, as she tucked her thumbs on her pants waist and began taking them off.

Alex couldn't resist and took off his own shirt, stopping Jen halfway from taking her pants off. "I'll do that, thank you very much."

"All right," she agreed with a small laugh. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer as he took her pants off, causing them both to stumble down, all tangled, on the sleeping bag.

They both burst out laughing and then looked at each other, their happy faces an inch apart. "I love you," they said at the same moment.

And then, they kissed.

To be continued.


End file.
